A quick start offset some shooting woes for the No. 2-ranked Brandywine girls basketball team in its 61-18 win over visiting White Pigeon Tuesday night.

White Pigeon may have scored the first points of the game, but it was never in the contest.

The Bobcats, who outscored the Chiefs 39-0 in the opening quarter of the season back in November, ran off 19 straight points to take a 19-2 lead after one.

White Pigeon again scored the first points of the second quarter, but would only manage two more as Brandywine built up a 35-6 halftime advantage.

Brandywine (8-0) struggled shooting the ball through the first half of the second quarter, but caught fire over the final four minutes of the contest.

Emily Erwin canned back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Bobcats rolling. When Victoria Knight scored inside the lead reached 30-4 and Rachel Ort’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Brandywine a comfortable 35-6 advantage.

The shooting troubles returned in the third quarter for Brandywine and this time it could not shake them off.

The Bobcats were limited to just eight points, but it continued to play solid defense and held White Pigeon to a mere six points.

“That’s why we try to play our style because some nights we’re not going to shoot the ball well,” Brandywine coach Josh Hood said. “We don’t have a huge horse inside, we have a few girls who can play inside, but we shoot a lot of threes. For us it’s always about extra possessions. If we can create extra possessions with our defense we have a chance to be successful.”

Leading 43-12 heading into the fourth quarter, Brandywine finally got things going offensively and scored 18 points.

Meanwhile, White Pigeon was once again limited to six points and ended up falling to the Bobcats by nearly the same score as in the first meeting when Brandywine posted a 58-14 victory.

Erwin led Brandywine with a game-high 12 points. Brooke Smith added 11 points, five steals and two blocks, while Tammy Lee and Michaela Hartline both finished with nine points.

Lee also had seven assists and Hartline added six rebounds and three assists.

Tia Hullinger chipped in with seven points and eight rebounds. Victoria Knight had eight points for the Bobcats.

Allie Bailey and Hayley Miller both scored seven points for the Chiefs.

 

WHITE PIGEON 18

Danielle Chantrenne 0; Destinee Dulce 1; Paige Goldman 0; Ashley Miller 4; Bethany Hagner 2; Allie Bailey 7; Haley Miller 7; Kayla Lapham 2. TOTALS: 5 8-15 18

BRANDYWINE 61

Emily Erwin 12; Rachael Ort 5; Makenna Hartline 0; Tia Hullinger 7; Victoria Knight 8; Tammy Lee 9; Michaela Hartline 9; Brooke Smith 11; Mikayla Kemp 0. TOTALS: 21 8-18 61

 

White Pigeon 2 6 12 18

Brandywine 19 25 43 61

3-point goals: White Pigeon 0, Brandywine 11 (Erwin 3, Ort, Hullinger, Lee 2, Mi. Hartline 2, Smith 2). Total fouls (fouled out): White Pigeon 11 (none), Brandywine 12 (none). Varsity record: Brandywine 8-0