BUCHANAN — A poor shooting night didn’t prevent the No. 2-ranked Brandywine girls basketball team from rolling past Buchanan on Friday.

The Bobcats, who improved to 9-0 overall and 2-0 in the Lakeland Conference, relied on their 3-point shooting and pressure defense to carry them past the Bucks, 52-23, in conference action.

Brandywine, which shot only 30-percent (16-of-53) from the field, made 11 three-pointers and forced Buchanan into 27-percent shooting (9-of-33) and 36 turnovers.

“That’s what we are,” said Hood about his team’s 3-point offense. “When teams pack it in, we’re going to shoot it. When those threes go in it seems to be contagious. When you make three or four in a row and go on a 9-0 or 12-0 run it’s hard for teams to make that up.”

Leading the way beyond the arc for the Bobcats was Rachael Ort, who finished with four 3-pointers, which accounted for all 12 of her points. Her two 3-pointers ignited a 12-2 run to end the second quarter for Brandywine. That spurt gave the visitors a 24-15 halftime lead. Ort sat out several minutes in the first half after picking up her second foul with 5:46 left in the first quarter.

“Rachael Ort did a great job in limited minutes,” Hood said. “I think she played only a few minutes tonight because of foul trouble.”

Tammy Lee added 12 points, including two 3-pointers for the Bobcats. Brooke Smith had 10 points with two 3-pointers and Emily Erwin scored nine points on three 3-pointers.

“They’re quick, they’re good shooters and they’re smart,” said Buchanan coach David Cleveland about Brandywine. They’re learning to work without (starting point guard) Mackenzie (Shelton) right now.”

Shelton, who’s a two-time first team All-Lakeland Conference selection, has been out for more than three weeks because of a high ankle sprain. Hood hopes to have Shelton back next week.

Without Shelton, Brandywine struggled at the start against Buchanan. The Bobcats missed 18 of their first 22 shots and turned the ball over 11 times in the first half. Buchanan led 13-12 after getting three free throws from Maddy Vorrath with 5:36 left in the second quarter.

“We’ve got to be able to make some shots,” Hood said about his team’s slow start. “We didn’t do a good job of shooting threes and we gave up transition baskets. We also commited two or three fouls and put them on the free throw line. That just slows the whole game down.”

“Our girls played hard and didn’t hang their heads,” Cleveland said. “We kept moving and kept boxing out. I think we’ve come a long ways defensively. Brandywine is ranked No. 2-ranked team in Class C. They’re there for a reason.”

Brandywine put the game away to start the second half by going on a 10-0 run to take a 34-15 lead with 2:44 left in the third quarter. Buchanan missed its first five shots in the third quarter and had six turnovers in the quarter before scoring on a basket from MacKenzie Orphanidis with 2:02 left in the third quarter.

Orphanidis scored 10 points to lead the Bucks, who dropped to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in the Lakeland Conference. Teammate Alica Lilley added 13 rebounds.

“We’ve got to continue to shoot better ourselves,” Cleveland said. “We had several open looks in the second half and we couldn’t hit the open looks and they got hot in the second half.”

Hood felt his team’s depth gradually took a toll on Buchanan.

“It was a nine-point game at the half but we felt like our (defensive) pressure was wearing them down,” Hood said. “That’s what we try to do. Tonight we played nine girls and our pressure defense is kind of annoying.”

The win over Buchanan was the 43rd straight league victory for Brandywine.

 

BRANDYWINE 52

Rachael Ort 12, Tia Hullinger 0, Brooke Smith 10, Victoria Knight 4, Tammy Lee 12, Emily Erwin 9, Mikayla Kemp 0, Makenna Hartline 3, Michaela Hartline 2. TOTALS: 16 9-14 52

BUCHANAN 23

Madison Prillwitz 0, MacKenzie Orphanidis 10, Maddy Vorrath 5, Alicia Lilley 2, Alexis Meahl 6, Alia Dobrzykowski 0, Kaitlynn Enders 0, Robyn Clark 0. TOTALS: 9 5-13 23

 

Brandywine 12 24 34 52

Buchanan 7 15 19 23

3-point goals: Brandywine 11 (Ort 4, Erwin 3, Smith 2, Lee 2), Buchanan (none). Total fouls (fouled out): Brandywine 13 (none), Buchanan 14 (Vorrath). Shooting: Brandywine 16-of-53 for 30-percent, Buchanan 9-of-33 for 27-percent. Rebounding: Brandywine 26 (Smith and Lee 6), Buchanan 34 (Lilley 13). Turnovers: Brandywine 19, Buchanan 36