WESTPHALIA - It wasn't the best night offensively for the Fatima Lady Comets.
But their defense more than made up for it.
"That's a big part of our game," Fatima coach Dustin Hays said Monday night after the Lady Comets opened their home schedule with a 64-23 victory against the St. Elizabeth Lady Hornets. "Getting turnovers like that can help you get up more shots and disguise the fact you didn't shoot the ball that well."
The Lady Comets were the recipients of 28 turnovers by the Lady Hornets, who are battling inexperience on the varsity level at the start of the season.
"We were just killing ourselves," St. Elizabeth coach Shelia Heckemeyer said.
St. Elizabeth, which returns just one starter and a handful of other players with varsity experience, turned the ball over 18 times in the first half and trailed 32-10 at intermission.
The spread could have been larger, but the Lady Comets were struggling from the field. In the first quarter, Fatima shot just 5-of-19 and led just 12-4 heading into the second period.
"We came out sloppy, it was my fault for not having them ready to play," Hays said. "The intensity on defense wasn't there, the offensive execution wasn't there."
The Lady Comets started to find their range in the second quarter, going 9-of-17 to stretch their advantage to 22 points.
Kate Massman had 12 points in the first half for Fatima.
"It was a great game for Kate, she was all over the place," Hays said.
On the other side, the Lady Hornets used the break to regroup.
"We were playing scared," Heckemeyer said. "I hate to compare teams, but last year, we played with confidence no matter who we were playing. We can't be scared."
Fatima outscored St. Elizabeth 22-11 in the third quarter to take a 54-21 advantage into the final period, which was played with a running clock.
"We were a lot better in the second half," Hays said. "It was a much better performance."
Heckemeyer hopes the Lady Hornets use the game as a learning experience.
"We need to slow down, don't rush so much and think about what we're doing," she said.
Brooke Struemph and Mackenize Struemph led the Lady Hornets (2-2) with six points each. St. Elizabeth will host Crocker on Thursday.
Morgan Brandt tied her teammate Massman for game-high scoring honors with 12 points. Massman led with eight rebounds. Eleven of the 13 Lady Comets who played scored at least one basket.
"We have 13 girls and we have 13 girls that can play," Hays said.
Fatima (2-0) scored 71 points in a season-opening win last week at Owensville. The Lady Comets forced 30 turnovers in that game.
"That's a big part of our game," Hays said. "Getting turnovers like that can help you get up more shots and disguise the fact you didn't shoot the ball that well.
"We shot a lot better in that game. In this one, it was a lot of volume, we put up a lot of shots and some of them went down."
Fatima will play Thursday at Helias (2-0).
"That will be a big test for us, they're playing well," Hays said.
Thursday's varsity game will start at 6 p.m. in Rackers Fieldhouse, with the junior varsity contest following around 7:30 p.m. in the Helias Gym.