By By RICK SWANSON / Dowagiac Daily News
WATERVLIET – In the final analysis, Katie Smallwood jump started the Lady Bobcats late in the third quarter, leading Brandywine to its 45-42 win over River Valley in the Class C girls' district basketball semifinals at Watervliet High School.
She added 14 points to the board in the second half, 10 of them coming in the fourth quarter, with the game-high of 19.
But in Coach Mark Zache's eyes, she was just one of the five girls on the court.
"I wanted all the seniors get at it and step up to the plate," he said. "Smallwood was the go-to person, but just one member of the team. As seniors, it is expected of them to work together for the win and they did."
In this second round of the district tournament, both teams looked at the top of their game and at the bottom.
River Valley came out of the gate slow, allowing Brandywine to control the entire first quarter, until point guard Maddie Ponegalek hit a 3-point shot less than 30 seconds to go, giving River Valley a 7-6 edge going into the second quarter.
Ponegalek led the Lady Mustangs through two quarters of dominating basketball. River Valley held the Lady Bobcats at bay, pushing them to the perimeter and not letting them under the net with a strong performance by center Tera Koebel.
They kept Brandywine from playing their own game by making small passing errors, poor rebounding and missed shots.
"They fell asleep," Zache commented after the game. "The turnovers, poor rebounding and weak-side play killed us."
Having not led since the first quarter, Brandywine tied the game at 29 with seven and half minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
And then Smallwood stepped up to the plate and River Valley could not stop her.
Playing man-to-man defense, River Valley's Koebel committed her fourth foul early in the quarter, moving senior center Brooke Lantis to guard Smallwood.
The Lady Mustangs could not box her out or go over her, giving Smallwood the opportunity to lead the team to the win.
River Valley could not muster the strength to hold on to its lead, falling behind 37-33 with four minutes to play.
With 23 seconds on the clock and the score 43-40 in favor of Brandywine and the ball in Lady Bobcats' hands the Lady Mustangs got the rock back following a foul.
River Valley's Ponegalek took a 3-point shot with 10 seconds to go, but missed, leaving the celebration to the Lady Bobcats.
Besides Smallwood's total, Brandywine also got 11 points from Kendra Zache and five points from Alexa Perry. Emily Low and Jennifer Marshman both finished with four points.
BRANDYWINE 45
Emily Low 2 0-1 4, Nicole Newman 0 0-0 0, Kendra Zache 5 0-0 11, Samantha Low 0 0-0 0, Katie Smallwood 8 3-3 19, Alexa Perry 2 0-0 5, Jennifer Marshman 2 0-0 4, Jenna Harris 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 3-4 45
RIVER VALLEY 42
Tera Koebel 3 4-4 11, Maggie Hausmann 2 2-2 7, Morgan Olmstead 2 0-1 4, Jade Lawrence 1 3-4 5, Maddie Ponegalek 4 0-0 9, Brooke Lantis 2 0-2 4, Kate Kautzky 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 9-13 42
Brandywine 6 7 13 19 – 45
River Valley 7 10 12 13 – 42
3-point baskets: Zache (B), Perry (B), Koebel (RV), Hausmann (RV), Ponegalek (RV). Total fouls: Brandywine 13, River Valley 16