Brandywine girls basketball coach Josh Hood didn’t enjoy watching his team’s 58-53 win Tuesday over Lake Michigan Catholic.

Hood, whose team improved to 3-0, took the blame for his team’s inconsistent play.

“It was interesting,” said Hood about his team’s play. “We’re a young team. I’m trying not to be too intense, but it’s hard. We got 100-percent outcoached tonight. All the credit goes to (LMC) coach (Joe) Jarvie and LMC. They executed in every facet and that’s coaching. Obviously, I’ve got a lot to work on as a coach to get better. I don’t know if it’s being complacent or what, but we’ve got to get a lot better in a lot of facets of the game, especially defensively. For three years, we prided ourselves on being the best defensive team in the area by playing fast and not fouling. We’re fouling and not rotating and we’re definitely not physical enough on the block. If we play big teams we’re going to get killed.”

The Lakers outrebounded the Bobcats, 42-21, and shot 38-percent (20-of-53) from the field. Brandywine got hurt inside by Lake Michigan Catholic 6-foot center Mary Vojtko, who scored 22 points and grabbed 14 points.

The Bobcats missed 15 of their 17 shots in the second quarter and went into halftime trailing the Lakers, 27-23.

Brandywine broke out of its shooting slump to start the third quarter. The Bobcats went 6-of-9 from the field to start the third quarter and took a 38-34 lead with 3:28 left in the third quarter. During that rally, Brandywine made three 3-pointers with Tammy Lee, Brooke Smith and Makenna Hartline connected from long range.

“We’re going to have to play fast and shoot threes because we don’t have a big physical presence on the block,” Hood said.

Despite Brandywine’s hot shooting, Lake Michigan Catholic was able stay close with the Bobcats through three quarters. Vojtko’s basket pulled the Lakers within 45-43 with :38 left in the third quarter. Brandywine would maintain that lead to start the fourth quarter.

The Bobcats then began to pull away. Smith’s 3-pointer started a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter for Brandywine. Mackenzie Shelton added four points and two steals and Emily Erwin made a 3-pointer during that stretch for the hosts which lasted for almost five minutes. Lake Michigan Catholic missed its first five shots in the final quarter and didn’t score until Lydia Svec made a 3-pointer to pull the Lakers within 55-46 with 3:07 left in the game.

“We have a group of girls back that have had some success,” Hood said. “(Shelton) is a four-year (varsity) player and she looked really energized (in the fourth quarter). I thought Mackenzie did a nice job of igniting us.”

Brandywine has back six players off last year’s team that finished 24-2 and won conference, district and regional titles.

Smith, who is one of those players, scored 17 points, including four 3-pointers, and grabbed five rebounds. Shelton, who’s a two-time first team All-Lakeland Conference selection, added 10 points. Shelton’s two free throws gave Brandywine a 58-49 lead with 1:16 left in the game.

“Brooke struggled in the middle part of the game shooting 3’s,” Hood said. “Later in the game, (Smith) did a really good job of making some big shots,” Hood said.

 

LAKE MICHIGAN 53

Hannah Seger 1 0-0 2, Rachel Lhotka 1 0-0 2, Mary Vojtko 9 4-5 22, Hayley Barker 2 1-2 5, Nicole Visin 4 0-0 8, Alexandra Raklovits 1 2-2 4, Lydia Svec 2 4-7 9, Rebecca Barta 0 1-2 1, Hannah Monte 0 0-0 0, Danielle Kuehn 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 12-18 53

BRANDYWINE 58

Rachael Ort 2 1-2 6, Victoria Knight 4 0-1 8, Brooke Smith 6 1-2 17, Tammy Lee 2 0-0 5, Mackenzie Shelton 2 6-8 10, Tia Hullinger 0 2-2 2, Makenna Hartline 1 0-0 3, Emily Erwin 3 0-0 7, Mikayla Kemp 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 10-15 58

 

Lake Michigan 10 27 43 53

Brandywine 18 23 45 58

3-point goals: LMC 1 (Svec), Brandywine 8 (Smith 4, Ort, Erwin, Hartline, Lee). Total fouls (fouled out): LMC 14 (none), Brandywine 17 (none). Shooting: LMC 20-of-53 for 38-percent, Brandywine 20-of-57 for 35-percent. Rebounding: LMC 42 (Vojtko 14), Brandywine 21 (Smith 5). Turnovers: LMC 23, Brandywine 9