LUCASVILLE — Hard work usually pays off, unless you turn the ball over.

The Coal Grove Lady Hornets were guilty of 25 turnovers — 16 in the first half — as they lost 37-21 to the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors Saturday in the Division III sectional finals.

“We worked hard all week for Eastern Brown. We knew what they were going to do,” Coal Grove coach Nick Miller said.

“We just didn’t handle the pressure. Give them credit. They’re a good team. They did a good job denying Samantha Hall and they forced Chelsea (Markins) to give up the ball and then keep her from getting it back.”

The plethora of turnovers limited the Lady Hornets field goal attempts. Coal Grove was just 6 of 21 from the floor.

Markins led the Lady Hornets with 10 points, but she only managed to take 10 shots including 2 of 7 from 3-point range.

Ariana Bowles led Eastern Brown (18-4) with 15 points.

Coal Grove, 17-5 and Ohio Valley Conference co-champions, took a 4-2 lead with 4:31 left in the first quarter on a layup by Jordyn Cox. But the Warriors scored the next six points and led 10-5 at the end of the quarter.

The Lady Hornets had only four points in the second quarter — all from the foul line — as Eastern Brown build a 24-9 halftime lead.

Markins got loose for a 3-pointer at the 5:03 mark of the third quarter for Coal Grove’s only points of the stanza. However, the defense did limit the Warriors to eight points and it was 32-12 heading into the fourth quarter.

Eastern Brown kept its first team in the game to run the clock in the fourth quarter. Coal Grove scored the final nine points of the game.