CONNEAUT — It was about what one would expect from a pair of aggressive teams in the early part of their season on the hardwoods — a tight battle with more mistakes and misses than one could accurately count.

For certain, though, when the Madison and Conneaut girls basketball teams opened the 2008-2009 season at Garcia Gymnasium, the fans in attendance got their money’s worth despite just about every miscue you could mention. The teams came down to the last two-tenths of a second in overtime before a pair of free throws by Madison sophomore Kelsey Koskinen gave the visiting Blue Streaks a thrilling 38-36 win.

“There sure was a lot of turnovers and a lot of mistakes,” Madison coach Mike Smith said. “Any other time, if we have 20 turnovers, we’d most likely lose, and tonight we had 26 and we won the game.

“We did the little things well at times tonight, but we got lucky tonight when No. 5 (Conneaut’s Nichelle Johnson) fouled out late in the game. She was dominant inside, and we also may have been a little leg weary after playing last night against Andrews.

“We’re young as a team, but we also got a big boost from Ashley DiLillo in the early going, and she then made a big shot late in the game when we needed it to get to overtime,” Smith said. “Neither team executed well, but the defense was outstanding and we weren’t ready for Conneaut’s matchup zone in the second half.”

Madison bulldozed its way to a 20-11 lead at the half with efficient, if not always successful, operation of its offense to go with a stifling defense, but the Spartans matchup zone to start the third period caused problems for Madison.

Justine VanCise (8 points, 3 assists, 2 steals) hit a deuce and a three-point shot and Marissa Olmstead split a pair of free shots for a quick 6-0 run for Conneaut in the period’s first two minutes as Conneaut cut the gap to 26-25 entering the last quarter.

The Spartans finally got their first lead of the night with 4:48 to play in regulation when Sarah Campbell (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) hit a pair of free throws, but Kate Oberstar tied the game at 30 with 1:08 left with a pair of free shots as well.

In overtime, Conneaut finally achieved a two-point lead at 36-34 with just over a minute left when Campbell put in a layup after taking a feed from Vancise.

Ashley DiLillo (8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) put home a bucket off a feed from Kate Thompson with a minute left, setting the stage for a frantic paced minute until Koskinen grabbed a missed shot and was fouled.

With both teams not disturbing the nets too much from the foul line all night, the sophomore calmly sank both free throws to send the Blue Streaks to their second win of the young season.

“We knew going in that our first few games would be maybe the toughest of the season for us,” a disappointed Spartan coach Tony Pasanen said. “With a little more success from the free throw line in our first two games, we might be 2-0 or 1-1 instead of 0-2.

“We feel we have a good team this year, the girls are developing well, and we think we’ll win more games than we lose. It’s frustrating, though, to miss free throws like we did, but you have to accept that it’s part of the game. Our intensity and attitude are great, so we’ll be fine.”

Free throws were a problem for both teams.

The Blue Streaks hit on 13 of 27, but that included 10 of 16 in the second half and overtime. The Spartans were not quite so sharp, netting 13 of 30.