BLOOMFIELD
There were no holiday lulls for either Brownstown Central or Trinity Lutheran girls basketball teams on Friday at the Toby Yoho Classic at Eastern Greene High School.
Both the Coguars and Braves went 2-0 to win their pools and move into the championship bracket where they will play twice more today back in Bloomfield.
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Putting it in cruise control wouldn’t do the Braves justice in their win over North Daviess in their first game of the day. Behind a can’t-miss offense and stingy defense, the Braves blasted North Daviess 66-15 with 10 different players scoring.
The Braves could hardly miss in the opening quarter, going 10-for-11 from the field including 3-for-3 from the 3-point line while holding North Daviess to just one point in the period. Their lockdown defense continued in the second half as they kept North Daviess off the scoreboard for eight more minutes. The offense, however, wasn’t as crisp but they were still able to push their advantage to 34 points after 16 minutes.
It was a good opportunity for the Braves to get some valuable varsity minutes for the reserve players.
With the game already decided; Kalee Borden, Avery Koch, Andrea Blair and the rest of the junior varsity lineup for Brownstown Central received extended minutes. Not only were they able to maintain their sizable lead, they built onto it replicating the varsity’s great start.
Braves’ coach Brandon Allman was pleased with the way his girls played on Friday and hopes they can keep it up today.
“I thought our girls did exactly what I asked them to do,” Allman said. “They came in, played hard and did not overlook anybody.”
Katherine Benter led the Braves with 18 points, followed closely by Ashley Schroer, who had 17.
Halle Hehman added seven and Hannah Stahl scored five. Blair, Koch and Borden each chipped in four points, while Maddy Hackman, Zoe Stuckwisch and Kelsey Wischmeier each added two.
In game two, it was much of the same for the Braves as they throttled the host Eastern Greene Thunderbirds 60-24.
Just like in their first game, the Braves received production from 10 different players with Schroer leading the way this time around with 19 points.
Benter added nine and Hackman chipped in six to round out the leading scorers for the starters.
Hehman, Wischmeier and Emma Klinge each tallied five points, while Borden added in four. Stahl totaled three, and Zoe Fountain and Koch scored two each.
Allman was pleased to get more work for his reserve players, who he’s been frustrated with at times this season. He states getting them extended minutes on Friday gave them another opportunity to figure out how to play with the varsity players.
For Trinity, they too got off to a good start with a 65-27 win over Clay City.
The Cougars held Clay City to just seven points in the first half while scoring 36 for themselves and, when it was all told, had nine different scorers.
Three double-digit scorers paced the Cougars with Bailey Tabeling leading the way with 19 points. Sydney Jaynes and Hannah Sabotin each added 12.
Emma Schepman scored seven, Kailene Cockerham had five and Kayla Goecker had four. Emma Goecker scored three, Hannah Durham scored two and Katelyn Schepman scored a point.
In their second game, the Cougars had a tougher start against the Owen Valley Patriots, but eventually asserted themselves as the better team to win 53-37.
The Patriots 2-3 zone frustrated the Cougars in the early goings as they weren’t attacking it to coach Mike Lang’s liking. Still, they were able to hold a two-point advantage through a period and, thanks to a 10-0 run to close the second, were leading 29-19 at the halftime break.
From there it all went in favor of the Cougars.
Whether it was Tabeling getting buckets from wherever she wanted to Jaynes knocking down short-range jumpers, the Cougars could not be denied in the second half.
Lang praised Tabeling’s continued growth, but the freshman still has some learning to do when it comes to picking the right shot for the moment.
Early on when the result was far from decided, Tabeling launched a transition 3-pointer instead of looking for an easy two. Lang explained it’s just a freshman wanting to score points and not seeing the easier play, but she’ll get better as she continues to develop.
“She’s got a scorer’s mentality,” Lang said. “You never want to pump the brakes on her too much, but when you get a little bit of a lead, you’re going to have that shot whenever you want. We wanted to work a little more offense at that point in time.”
Tabeling finished her game against the Patriots with a team-high 22 points. Jaynes also ended up in double figures with 14 while Sabotin contributed eight. Rounding out the scoring: Cockerham had seven and Emma Schepman had two.
The Cougars will battle in their semifinal game at 11:15 against Edgewood while the Braves will face Forest Park at 1 p.m.