Lady Braves start strong in win over Pioneers

CLARKSVILLE — By the end of the first quarter of Friday’s game at Providence, the Brownstown Central Lady Braves had 30 points and had all eight players in the scoring column.

The Braves held a double-digit lead until the Pioneers cut it to nine at the end of the third quarter, but the Braves responded well and returned home with an 80-65 win to improve to 2-0.

“Offensively, you couldn’t really ask for a better effort,” Braves coach Karla Rieckers said.

Jamie Wehmiller, Hailey Brown, Sammie Bane and Jenna Hackman each sank a 3-pointer in the first quarter, but just 1:30 into the game, Bane was called for her second foul.

With Bane on the bench, the Pioneers’ Megan Eve took off with four treys, with her final one at 55 seconds making it a 25-20 game. But Kaylee Bennett’s bucket inside in the final five seconds put her team up 30-22.

Maria Allen’s drive in the lane pushed the Braves’ lead back to double figures and Hackman rattled in a 3 at 2:40 to give her team a 47-31 lead and forcing Providence into a timeout. The Braves held on to a 48-34 advantage at halftime.

“Megan Eve is an exceptional player, and we knew that she could do that,” Rieckers said of Eve hitting the 3. “Sammie Bane does a really nice job defensively, and (Eve went on a surge) when (Bane) had to sit out in the second quarter. She had two fouls and we didn’t want her to pick up her third.”

With Bane back in the game in the second half, Eve was limited to four points after scoring 14 in the first half.

The Pioneers, however, were within 11 at 3:39 of the third quarter, and Rieckers had her team take a breather.

“Basically, we talked about that we needed to be more patient on offense,” Rieckers said. “Sometimes we were trying to force things when they weren’t there. We want to play the up-tempo game, but we also need to realize that if that transition isn’t there to get that layup, it’s OK to pull it out and set it up and run an offense, and sometimes we get a little bit too impatient because we want to play that transition game.”

The Braves regrouped, and Wehmiller’s lay-in at the buzzer made it a 65-54 contest.

Brownstown led by 18 on Brown’s jumper and Katelyn Shoemaker’s drive inside.

“Our girls are very unselfish. It doesn’t really matter who scores,” Rieckers said. “Sometimes we’re a little too unselfish. We need to step up and take a shot. I think there was a time or two we made one extra pass and we should have went up with the shot and as a result got a turnover. Overall, our girls work well together, they know where each other is going to be and they see the floor.”

Bane had a team-high 18 points, Shoemaker had 12, Wehmiller 11 and Allen 10 points and five assists. Bennett and Taylor Fleetwood led the rebounding effort with six apiece.

Eve and Katy Flanagan led the Pioneers’ charge with 18 and 17 points respectively. Mary Graf came off the bench and scored 10.

“We were giving up way too many points, and defense is something that has to improve,” Rieckers said. “We really don’t want to give up 65 points in a ball game, and that’s one of the things that probably was most disappointing tonight.”

The Braves will play host to Seymour (2-1) on Thursday.

“We’ve never played on the Friday night coming back after Thanksgiving,” Rieckers said. “It’s typically been a Saturday night game. Having that holiday and just a different routine from what they are used to, I was pleased with how we came out.”

Box score

At Clarksville
Brownstown 30 18 17 15—80
Providence    22 12 20 11—65
Brownstown Central (2-0): Maria Allen 4-10 2-3 10, Sammie Bane 6-13 4-5 18, Katelyn Shoemaker 5-10 2-4 12, Kaylee Bennett 3-6 1-3 7, Taylor Fleetwood 4-5 0-2 8, Jamie Wehmiller 4-9 2-2 11, Jenna Hackman 2-3 0-1 6, Hailey Brown 3-9 0-2 8, totals 31-65 11-22 80
Providence (1-4): Kallie Ash 1-7 1-2 3, Megan Eve 7-11 0-0 18, Katy Flanagan 5-15 4-5 17, Leah White 3-7 1-2 7, Abby Swartz 1-2 0-1 2, Morgan Boone 1-1 0-0 2, Mary Graf 4-8 0-1 10, Alex Stiner 1-1 0-0 2, Mackenzie Wilson 2-3 0-0 4, Nichole Tucker 0-0 0-0 0, totals 25-55 6-11 65
3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Brown 2, Bane 2, J. Hackman 2, Wehmiller), Providence (Eve 4, Flanagan 3, Graf 2)
Rebounds: Brownstown Central 27 (Bennett 6, Fleetwood 6, Shoemaker 5), Providence 21 (Eve 7, Flanagan 5)
Turnovers: Brownstown Central 14, Providence 17
Fouls: Brownstown Central 17, Providence 18 (fouled out: Swartz)
Junior varsity
Brownstown 19 7 9   6—41
Providence    1  4 10 10—25
Brownstown Central (2-0): Haley Hackman 9, Presley Dmitriev 8, J. Hackman 6, Megan Quade 6, Mallory Cockerham 4, Sierra Enrique 2, Brown 2, Kourtney Settle 2, Kaley Wilkerson 2