By STEVE MORRISON
Niles Daily Star

Lauren Leonard and Carlie Newman each scored 16 points to pace the Brandywine girls’ basketball team to a hard-earned 45-21 win over visiting conference rival Berrien Springs’ Shamrocks on Tuesday night.

The Lady Bobcats’ tenacious defense tightened their grasp of a second place rank in Michigan Class C basketball.

Neither team was especially potent on offense in the first period, but Brandywine, paced by Newman’s three for four and Leonard’s two for two shooting from the charity stripe, began a Brandywine run to begin the quarter.

Nicole Newman dropped a long three and sophomore Madison Pellow’s two-point field goal staked the Bobcats to a 10-0 bulge to start the game.

Berrien Springs was only able to score one point in the quarter on a free throw by senior guard, Raechel Zahrn.

Leading after eight minutes, 10-1, the Bobcats scored 15 in the second quarter compared to Berrien’s mere seven.

Carlie Newman knocked down two of her three treys on the night and went two for two at the line. Leonard made three tough inside shots and dropped her only two free tosses of the quarter. Leonard’s bank put the ‘Cats ahead 20-8 and moments later, Carlie Newman’s three gave Brandywine  a 23-8 advantage.

Morgan Smallwood’s field goal put the hosts up 25-8 as Leonard stole the ball from the Shamrocks to end the first half.

A short time before intermission, Brandywine center Teila Smith was forced from the game after she aggravated a knee injury that had kept her on the sideline for the last couple of weeks. She sat out the second half.

“She’s been banged up for a week or so. She was cleared to play,” Brandywine coach, Josh Hood commented after the game. “She just re-aggravated it (the knee). We’ll have her sit for the rest of the week and hopefully we’ll have her ready for the districts.”

Stellar defense, particularly with inside help from Leonard, and the rest of the Bobcat crew caused Berrien to turn over the ball 17 times in the half (27 for the entire contest). The Shamrocks just weren’t able to penetrate into the paint often.

Beginning the second half, Smallwood dropped a two-pointer to increase Brandywine’s lead to 27-8 and Carlie Newman’s two successful free throws made it 29-8.

Koby Gillespie canned three smooth deuces for the Shamrocks in the quarter, but it wasn’t enough to make much impact.

Brandywine led 38-14 after three quarters.

The crowning touch was Carlie Newman’s third three-ball, which tied her for the all-time Brandywine three-point field goal mark at 88 with former Bobcat Stephanie Crocker.

Newman, only a sophomore, has a long time to build on that offensive statistic.

The Bobcats and Shamrocks scored evenly at seven apiece in the final quarter, but the outcome of the game was in little doubt.

“It wasn’t the best offensive performance, but when you play good team defense you always have a chance to win,” Hood analyzed. “When you hold teams to single digits in the first half, and I think we’ve done that now for three games in a row, that says a lot about our team defense,” added Coach Hood.

Brandywine’s junior varsity, fielding only five players, due to injuries, dropped their contest to the Shamrocks 20-12.

BERRIEN SPRINGS 21
Lindsey Foster 0 3-4 3; Raechel Zahrn 2 1-2 6; Kayla Foster 1 0-0 2; Amanda Bromilow 0 0-0 0; Stefani Camacho 0 1-2 1; Kayla Ender 0 0-0 0; Koby Gillespie 3 1-3 7; Gabby Baur 1 0-2 2; Danielle Downey 0 0-0 0
BRANDYWINE 45
Carlie Newman 3 7-8 16; Nicole Newman 1 1-2 4; Michaela Greer 0 0-0 0; Mackenzie Shelton 0 0-0 0; Kelsey Prestly 0 1-2 1; Morgan Smallwood 2 0-0 4; Teila Smith 0 0-0 0; Lauren Leonard 6 4-7 16; Madison Pellow 2 0-2 4

Berrien Springs  1 7 6 7 21
Brandywine 10 15 13 7 45
3-point baskets: Brandywine 4 (Carlie Newman 3, Nicole Newman 1; Berrien Springs 1 (Raechel Zahrn). Total fouls: Berrien Springs 13; Brandywine 15. Fouled out: Shelton (BW). Varsity records: Berrien Springs 7-12; Brandywine 18-1