PERU — LaMoille/Ohio’s Lady Lions had another tough matchup Thursday at the Christmas Classic. In their second round of action the Lady Lions squared off against IVC. Though the first half was competitive, turnovers allowed IVC to stretch their lead in the second half. The final score was 52-20, Lady Grey Ghosts.

“Turnovers. I think we had 26 or so. You’re not going to win any ballgames with that many. We’re just going to have to figure it out. We’re young. We have to figure out them turnovers. We can’t just throw the ball wherever we want. We have to take care of the ball. They’re a good ball team, but in the first quarter we were playing with them. It’s the same thing over and over,” LaMoille/Ohio coach Richard Gross said. “I can’t play for them. I tell them and tell them, I show them. When you come down the floor and you throw that ball hard like that, out of control, turnover.”

When asked about trouble at the hoop coach Gross replied, “We’re not squaring up. You can’t do that. You can coach and you can teach, you can show. And when they get on the floor, hopefully you prepared them well enough to do that. Right now we’re not. So, either I’m not doing my job or there’s something else. I won’t quit, and they won’t either. They don’t quit. They’re a good group of girls.”

At the end of the first quarter IVC was only up four points. Going into the second it was obvious that the referees were letting the players battle it out. There were collisions all over the court between players, the floor, and the ball as it sailed into heads and feet on occasion. Gross said he didn’t think that the game was called very well.