By SCOTT NOVAK

Niles Daily Star

SCHOOLCRAFT – For the third time in school history and the first time since 2000, the Brandywine girls’ basketball team can call itself Class C Regional champions.

The No. 2 ranked Bobcats dispatched Bangor 59-44 Thursday night at Schoolcraft High School to advance to Tuesday night’s quarterfinal game against Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, a 58-54 winner over Manchester.

On a team dominated by sophomores, a senior and a junior led the Bobcats to the crown.

Senior Nicole Newman knocked down all four of her 3-point shots and finished with 13 points, while inside the Bobcats pounded it in to junior Lauren Leonard, who scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

“How about the game for Nicole Newman?” Brandywine coach Josh Hood asked. “She’s on the biggest stage of her career and look what she does. She struggled during the last part of the regular season shooting the ball a little bit, but tonight and the other night she was huge. She shot the ball wonderfully. She had great composure and that’s what you expect from a leader and that’s why she’s our captain.

“Lauren is just an animal. She is so fierce inside. She’s not the thickest of girls, but I’ll put here against anybody inside because she played so hard and so strong,” he added.

Early on in the regional final it was the quickness of Bangor’s smaller guards against the inside game of the much taller and deeper Bobcats.

The Vikings (20-5) were able to keep pace with Brandywine (23-1) through the first two quarters, but as time wore on in the third period it was easy to see that Brandywine’s constant shuffling in of players off the bench was taking it toll.

The Bobcats opened up with 23 points as Nicole Newman canned two of her 3-pointers and finished the quarter with seven points.

Sophomore Carlie Newman, who was held to just four points in the semifinals, wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Carlie Newman scored seven points in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 20 to pace Brandywine. Leonard also had seven points in the frame.

Calmika Covington single-handedly kept Bangor in the contest during the first eight minutes.

She netted 12 of her team-high 17 points in the period, but wouldn’t score in the second quarter when the Bobcats started to take control of the game.

While the scoring fell off in the second quarter, Brandywine was able to get seven points from Carlie Newman and six points from Leonard as the Bobcats built up a 10-point halftime advantage, 37-27.

“It’s just nice to move on to the next game,” Nicole Newman said. “I just kept shooting and they were falling. I needed a game like that.”

When asked about being a leader on a team filled with younger players, Newman said that she has no problem taking on the role.

“It’s huge,” she answered when asked how much it meant to the team to have her step up. “Every team needs a leader and that’s what I am trying to do for them.”

Bangor tried to claw its way back into the contest in the third quarter, as it cut the lead to 46-38 with just over two minutes remaining. But Brandywine scored the final four points of the quarter and took a 50-38 lead into the final stanza.

“We knew they were going to shoot well the first half, they are a great perimeter team,” Hood said. “But as long as we kept running and running that affects their perimeter shooting and I thought it did in the second half.”

Points were at a premium in the final quarter, but Nicole Newman canned two more triples to seal the victory and gave the Bobcats a chance to start thinking about moving on in the state tournament.

The trio of Carlie and Nicole Newman, along with Leonard accounted for all but 10 of the Bobcats’ points against the Vikings. The other points came from junior Morgan Smallwood (6) and junior Kelsey Prestly (4).

Bangor to 10 points from Monique Johnson and nine points from Shanell Smith to go along with Covington’s total.

While both teams had nearly the same about of baskets, there was a huge difference in free throw shooting.

Brandywine did hold a 5-3 advantage in 3-pointers, but the Bobcats were 12-of-20 from the line, while Bangor was 1-of-12.

BRANDYWINE 59

Carlie Newman 8 5-9 20; Nicole Newman 4 1-2 13; Michaela Greer 0 0-1 0; Mackenzie Shelton 0 0-0 0; Kelsey Prestly 2 0-0 4; Lauren Leonard 5 6-8 16. TOTALS: 21 12-20 59

BANGOR 44

Shanell Smith 4 0-3 9; Megan Everett 2 0-3 4; Calmika Covington 7 1-2 17; Michelle Hills 0 0-0 4; Jasmine Lina 0 0-0 0; Samantha McNealy 2 0-2 4; Monique Johnson 5 0-2 10. TOTALS: 20 1-12 44

Brandywine 23 37 50 59

Bangor 18 27 38 44

3-point baskets: Brandywine 5 (C. Newman 2, N. Newman 3), Bangor 3 (Smith 1, Covington 2). Total fouls: Brandywine 18, Bangor 17. Fouled out: Covington (BA). Varsity records: Brandywine 23-1, Bangor 20-5