By AMELIO RODRIGUEZ
Niles Daily Star

BRIDGMAN – The Brandywine girls’ basketball team took another step toward repeating as Class C District champions.

The Bobcats, who had a bye in round one of the district, played Watervliet on Wednesday in the semifinals at Bridgman High School and came away with the 57-30 victory.

The first quarter started as if neither team really wanted to score any points as the first five minutes saw Brandywine holding on to a 4-2 lead.

The last three minutes of the first period was when Brandywine started to make some noise on both offense and defense.

Brandywine was pounding the ball inside to Lauren Leonard and Kelsey Prestly early and often. Then after the made baskets it would jump into its full court press, which proved to be effective all night, pressuring the Panthers into 33 turnovers for the game.

Leonard would lead the ‘Cats in the first with seven points, followed by Prestly’s six, as Brandywine would take a commanding 17-4 lead after the first eight minutes.

Alex Spaulding had all four of Watervliets’ points in the quarter.

The Bobcats kept the pressure on in the second quarter as well, outscoring the Panthers 16-11 in the period to take a 33-15 lead at the break.

The Panthers would score seven of their 11 from the free throw line in the second, while Brandywine would be led by Carlie Newman with seven points.

The third quarter would be another struggle for the Panthers to make something happen as Brandywine kept on the pressure and continued to knock down shots.

The Bobcats would outscore the Panthers 13-5 in the third as Nicole Newman and Mackenzie Shelton each knocked down 3-point baskets on the way to a 46-20 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.

The fourth quarter was much of the same.

Brandywine, which had played all season with nine players before the injury to Telia Smith, brought up four players from the junior varsity team this week for the tournament roster.

All of them would see significant playing time in the fourth quarter, led by Ellie Price’s three points.

Brandywine would go on to outscore the Panthers 11-10 in the final stanza bringing the final score to 57-30.

“I thought the key to tonight’s game was to get the tempo in our favor, the first time we played them it was 19-9 at the half,” Brandywine coach Josh Hood said. “I’m proud of our girls. They came out tonight and played with a purpose. They worked hard all week getting ready for this game, but the message is real clear, nobody remembers the district runner-up so we’ve got to get on the bus and get ready for the game Friday night against New Buffalo”.

Brandywine will play New Buffalo on Friday, 7 p.m.

WATERVLIET 30
Alex Spaulding 3 2-2 8, Kirsten Sill 0 2-2 2, Andrea Hiler 2 1-3 5, Nicole Winter 3 4-5 11, Brooke Kling 0 2-2 2, Lauren Richardson 1 0-2 2, Katie Amabile 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Rogers 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 9 11-16 3
BRANDYWINE 57
Lauren Leonard 5 1-3 11, Morgan Smallwood 3 0-0 6, Kelsey Prestly 4 3-4 11, Carlie Newman 4 2-4 11, Nicole Newman 2 0-2 5, MacKenzie Shelton 1 0-0 3, Madison Pellow 2 1-2 5, Michaela Greer 0 0-0 0, Ellie Price 1 1-2 3, Morgan Antus 1 0-0 2, D’Nisha Zona 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 8-17 57

Watervliet 4 15 20 30
Brandywine 17 33 46 57
3-point baskets: Watervliet 1 (Winter 1), Brandywine 3 (N. Newman 1, C. Newman 1, Shelton 1). Total fouls: Watervliet 13, Brandywine 16. Fouled out: None.
Varsity records: Watervliet 15-6, Brandywine 20-1