Eudora ? Kelsey Verhaeghe stepped up big for the Baldwin High girls basketball squad late in its game at Eudora High on Thursday.

With all the showings of a heated rivalry game, it was Verhaeghe’s game-high 19 points – 12 in the second half – that propelled the Bulldogs to a 47-38 victory over the Cardinals.

“We knew it would be a tough game because they’re a really good defensive team and it’d be close,” Verhaeghe said. “But we came out and fought really hard in the fourth quarter and that helped us get our lead and the win.

“We knew we just had to fight real hard … because we could get our momentum going. And I knew I just had to step up and make some shots.”

Although her points were difficult to come by, Verhaeghe performed at the level her coach is used to seeing her play.

“They (Eudora) did a great job on her and made her earn everything she had to get,” Baldwin coach Bob Martin said of Verhaeghe. “She had to earn her points tonight. She’s a great player, and she came through when we needed her to come through. And that’s what great players do.”

As the game was coming to a close, Baldwin held on to a marginal lead. But with just under three minutes to play, Verhaeghe hit her third three-pointer of the night and gave the Bulldogs a 43-35 advantage – which seemed to take the wind out of the Cardinals’ sails.

“She is definitely a good player,” Eudora’s Allison Braden said. “She definitely set up a lot of good runs that they had. I think it frustrated us for the most part to have all those runs (against us).”

Besides the impressive offensive display by Verhaeghe, the Baldwin defense put a clamp on Eudora to force seven turnovers in the final quarter – with a total of 25 Cardinals mistakes for the game.

Heather Garcia led the Bulldogs in the steals department, picking the ball off four times to go with her eight points – the same amount of scoring produced by Baldwin teammate Becca Stroman.

“We couldn’t get into our half-court offense like we wanted to and just execute,” Eudora coach Ryan Luke said. “Turnovers were big. We had a stretch there in the second quarter where five out of six possessions were turnovers. … Obviously those are big.”

Braden attempted to keep her team afloat with a team-high 12 points – six in each half – with a little help from Emily Ballock, who scored all seven of her points in the second half, including six in the fourth quarter.

Eudora didn’t have any difficult when it came to rebounding, finishing with a 31-21 advantage.

The Cardinals had four players with at least five boards. Ballock led the way with six rebounds, while Braden, Haley Epperson and Elaina Kouri each pulled down five.

Baldwin and Eudora each will have a heavy load next week. Eudora is scheduled to play three games – including back-to-back away games at Kansas City Sumner and Prairie View on Thursday and Friday following a home matchup with Ottawa on Monday – while Baldwin will travel to Spring Hill on Monday before hosting Osawatomie on Friday.