COAL GROVE — Coach Nick Miller was worried about his team being rusty. It looked like the Coal Grove Lady Hornets had coated themselves in WD-40 oil.

Despite a 12-day layoff, Coal Grove jumped out to a big lead early and went on to beat the Rock Hill Redwomen 60-35 Thursday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We hadn’t played in 12 days and Rock Hill had played well at Gallipolis, so I was pretty nervous. I didn’t know how we’d respond,” Miller said.

“But we came out and scored quick. We did a really nice job the whole game.”

Chelsea Markins scored 10 points in the first quarter as Coal Grove jumped out to a 9-0 lead and led 18-7 at the end of the quarter.

Samantha Hall came back with 10 points in the second quarter as Coal Grove opened up a 35-15 lead at the half.

“Samantha Hall set the tone the first half. They couldn’t stop her. It was a good all-around game for us.”

Rock Hill outscored Coal Grove 10-9 in the third quarter to make it 44-25, but the Lady Hornets continued to pull away in the fourth quarter.

“I was disappointed we didn’t play well to start the second half,” Miller said.

Markins finished with 20 points and Hall scored 19. Bobbi Harper and Michelle Pancake scored 12 points each for Rock Hill.

“We got out of our game early and couldn’t hit any shots. And then Markins and Hall really hurt us. They may be the two best players in our league,” Redwomen coach Matt Fulks said.

“It wasn’t the start in the league we wanted, but we’ll get back to work and try to get better.”

Rock Hill781010=35

Coal Grove1817916=60

ROCK HILL (2-4,0-1): Brooke Long 1 0 0-0 2, Elisha Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Michelle Pancake 2 0 8-9 12, Kelsey Harris 0 0 0-0 0, Amy Layne 0 0 0-0 0, Amanda Whitt 0 0 0-0 0, Mandi McKenzie 2 0 2-8 6, Gretchen Dickess 0 0 0-0 0, Samantha Harris 0 0 2-3 2, Bobbi Harper 3 2 0-0 12, Leslie Delawder 0 0 0-0 0, Kayla Scaggs 0 0 1-2 1, Ashley Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 8

2

13-22

35. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: None.

COAL GROVE (3-1, 1-0):

Samantha Zornes 0 1 1-2 4, Caymie Collier 1 0 0-0 2, Brittney Harrison 1 0 3-4 5, Jordyn Cox 0 0 1-2 1, Taylor Sexton 0 0 1-2 1, Traci Tackett 1 0 5-8 7, Maggie Young 0 0 1-2 1, Chelsea Markins 1 3 9-12 20, Samantha Hall 7 0 5-6 19. Totals: 11

4

25-38

60. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.

Reserves: Coal Grove 27-16. CG scoring: Caymie Collier 8. RH scoring: Jamie Scott 6.