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Brandywine's Carlie Newman scored a team-high 17 points Tuesday night against visiting Cassopolis. (Daily Star photo/ERIKA PICKLES)
By ERIKA PICKLES
Niles Daily Star
A strong first half performance helped keep the Brandywine girls’ varsity basketball team undefeated on the season after posting a 54-32 victory over visiting Cassopolis in Lakeland Conference action Tuesday evening.
The Bobcats are now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference. The Rangers, who missed out on two games last week due to weather conditions, fell to 1-3 overall, 0-2 in the LAC.
“This is our first game since Dec. 4, and only our third game of the season, so we weren’t in game mode tonight. I’m not blaming the two cancelled games for our loss, but I think it definitely didn’t make us as sharp as we should have been,” Cassopolis head coach Floyd Foston said.
The Bobcats jumped to a commanding 22-7 lead after the first eight minutes of play. Sophomore Carlie Newman contributed 11 points in the first quarter alone, six of which came from the 3-point arc.
“Carlie is one of the post players we will be looking to a lot this year. We’ve actually got four really good post players and we did a good job of getting them the ball tonight for some easy shots,” Hood said.
Brandywine never carried less than a 15-point lead in the second period. At the 2:57 mark, the Lady ‘Cats pulled ahead by 25 points, 38-12 and ended the half with a 38-20 advantage. Cassopolis’ amonica Kelly scored 10 of the Rangers’ 13 points in the second.
The first half stretch was Brandywine’s answer in securing the victory as the game took a much different turn in the final 16 minutes of play.
The Bobcats were only able to add 16 points to the scoreboard in both the third and fourth quarters combined. Hood said his team has been struggling with a “coast-mode” since the beginning of the season.
“We start out strong, then we just coast through the rest of the game. We get out of sink, play unorganized and we really need to fix that.
We can’t play like that when we meet these conference teams again in a month or two or else we’ll be in trouble,” he said.
Cassopolis outscored Brandywine 9-8 in the third period and, despite a strong comeback attempt, still trailed the Bobcats 46-29 entering the fourth. Foston said he was please with the Rangers’ effort in the second half, although the score didn’t reflect it.
“We didn’t give up and we tried our best to fight back. That first half really hurt us, but the girls never gave up no matter how far behind we fell,” Foston said.
In the fourth, Kelly scored the only three points of the quarter for Cassopolis on a jump shot and one bucket from the free throw line. Madison Pellow scored all eight of Brandywine’s points in the final period. Six came from inside the paint and two coming from free throws.
Both coaches were pleased with their team’s performances, but admitted there was work that needed to be done.
“We knew Brandywine was good. They’ve got height over us, they’re quick and we knew we would have to play our best, but we lacked in energy and in our intensity. We’re still a work in progress and I’m hoping we can turn things around really soon,” he added.
Hood said having a 5-0 record is exciting, but having a perfect record thus far only adds pressure on his team.
“We have a lot of work to do still. I want us to get to a point of playing an organized, fast paced game and if we want to continue to have a strong season, we’ve got to learn to play the full 32 minutes,” he said.
Kelly had a game-high 18 points for Cassopolis and was the only Ranger player to score in double digits.
Newman ended the night with 17 points for Brandywine, while Pellow added 10.
Both teams face another round of conference games on Thursday evening. The Bobcats will travel to Bridgman, while the Rangers travel to Buchanan.
Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
In junior varsity action, Brandywine sailed to a 30-11 victory over Cassopolis.
D’Nisha Zona had a game high eight points for the Bobcats, while Breanna Coleman and Jocelyn Transou each contributed four points for the Rangers.
BRANDYWINE 54
Carlie Newman 4 2 4-3 17; Nicole Newman 1 0-0 2; Michaela Greer 0 0-0 0; Mackenzie Shelton 2 0-0 4; Kelsey Prestly 4 1-1 9; Morgan Smallwood 2 0-0 4; Teila Smith 0 2-0 0; Lauren Leonard 4 0-0 8; Madison Pellow 4 4-2 10. TOTALS 21 2 11-6 54
CASSOPOLIS 32
Damonica Kelly 4 2 8-4 18; Sasha Lanier 1 0-0 2; Jameka Eleazer 0 0-0 0; Savannah Sullivan 2 1-1 5; Tayler Williams 0 0-0 0; Lela Broussard 1 0-0 2; Reese Ellison 3 2-1 7; Felicia Poore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 10 2 11-6 32
Cassopolis 7 21 29 32
Brandywine 22 38 46 54
3-point goals: Cassopolis 2 (Kelly 2), Brandywine 2 (C. Newman 2). Total fouls: Brandywine 14, Cassopolis 12. Fouled out: None. Varsity record: Brandywine 5-0
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