DELTON – It never gets old for the Brandywine girls basketball team.

The No. 4-ranked Bobcats won their third straight Class C Regional championship Thursday night with a hard-fought 46-39 victory over Mendon.

A look at the statistics may have people wondering just how Brandywine did it.

All-Stater Carlie Newman was held without a field goal and 15 points below her season average. The Bobcats shot just 30 percent from the field and were outrebounded by the Hornets 40-23.

“We’ve had some pretty remarkable stats in games this year and came out on top,” Brandywine coach Josh Hood said. “It sums up these girls. To be a public school and now win three regional championships in a row is rare. That says a lot about the kids at Brandywine.

“There is people up there that don’t know the game of basketball that could coach this team and win because of the type of girls that they are. They believe each other and they believe in themselves. That’s what makes them special.”

Mendon was able to control the tempo of the game in the opening eight mintues of play, but when Brandywine went inside to senior Madison Pellow, the game changed.

Pellow scored 10 of her 14 points in the second quarter as the Bobcats seized control of the game.

Pellow had just two points in the regular season meeting with the Hornets.

“The first time we played them I was really weak,” Pellow said. “I knew I had to come out strong and use my upper body strength. That helped a lot knowing I had to do that tonight.”

Pellow scored the first basket of the second quarter to start the comeback and when Tia Hullinger hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 2:15 to play in the opening half, the Bobcats’ had a 22-15 lead and control of their destiny.

Brandywine (24-1) played the entire first half without committing a turnover. The Bobcats forced Mendon into 10 miscues and held Hornet standout Brooke Howard scoreless.

“That was our No. 1 key on offense, valuing the basketball,” Hood said. “I thought we did a real good job of that tonight. We got a little lazy in the fourth quarter and that is completely my fault. We talked about trying to get a lead because we knew Mendon was a great half-court team. If we could get the lead, maybe we could space them out and make them work. We did a good job of finishing it off.”

While Brandywine was never able to put Mendon away in the second half, there was no sense that the Hornets were going to be able to mount enough of an offensive charge to overtake the Bobcats.

Just as she had to start the game, Mackenzie Shelton canned a 3-pointer to start the second half. That shot pushed the Brandywine to 10 points (25-15) and it grew to 37-24 by the end of the third quarter when Brooke Smith went back door on the Mendon defense with two seconds left in the period.

The Bobcats kept the lead around the 10-point for much of the final eight minutes. The Hornets got the lead down to seven points with three and a half minutes to play, but would get no closer.

Brandywine kept Mendon at bay by hitting 7-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Pellow also had nine rebounds to go along with her 14 points. Shelton finished with nine points and Brooke Smith eight.

Newman finished with five points, five rebounds and five assists.

Howard ended up leading all scorers with 16 points. She had 10 of those in the final quarter. Heather Wright added 15 points.

The Bobcats will now face No. 2-ranked Concord Tuesday night in the Class C Quarterfinals at Bangor High School.

Concord defeated Springport 42-26.

MENDON 39

Brooke Howard 4 8-9 16; Grace Leighton 0 0-0 0; Jenna Griffith 0 0-0 0; Danielle Parsons 0 0-0 0; Jess Doster 1 0-0 2; Blaec Arevalo 2 2-2 4; Cierra Furlong 0 0-0 0; Alexis Russell 1 0-0 2; Heather Wright 6 3-4 15; Shelby Harrison 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 11-15 39

BRANDYWINE 46

Carlie Newman 0 5-6 5; Rachael Ort 0 2-4 2; Mackenzie Shelton 2 3-5 9; Tia Hullinger 1 0-0 3; Victoria Knight 2 1-1 5; Brooke Smith 2 3-4 8; Mikayla Kemp 0 0-0 0; Madison Pellow 6 2-4 14; Hannah Horst 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 16-24 46

Mendon 9 15 24 39

Brandywine 7 22 37 46

3-point baskets: Mendon 0, Brandywine 4 (Shelton 2, Hullinger, Smith). Total fouls (fouled out): Mendon 19 (none), Brandywine 15 (none). Varsity records: Mendon 24-3, Brandywine 24-1