NILES — Brandywine overcame a sloppy start to its first game of 2018 and managed to continue its winning streak with a 39-36 overtime victory against Kalamazoo Christian Tuesday night.

The Lady Cats, who went almost three weeks without playing a game, watched as ball after ball bounced off the rim and pass after pass bobbled out of hands and out of bounds. In fact, in the second quarter alone, a team who is known for its impressive outside shooting game went only 2-of-14 from the field.

Brandywine trailed 9-5 after the first quarter and 18-12 at the half.

Head coach Josh Hood said he went a little too easy on his team during their time off.

“We had girls gone, girls injured, some sick … we only have nine players as is,” he said. “So, we rested a lot over break and you could clearly see that tonight. We were gassed, we were out of sync and that’s my fault.”

Junior Nicole Sachman helped the Bobcats come out of their funk in the second half as she sank six points and grabbed two steals in the third. Three-point buckets by Megan Schmidt and Malikiyyah Abdullah gave Brandywine its first lead of the night as the Bobcats went on to lead 31-28 enter the fourth.

But the spark was short-lived as the Comets outscored Brandywine 8-4 in the fourth, putting both teams into overtime tied at 36. 

Brandywine scored its only points of overtime at the free-throw line, where the team went just 3-for-8.

On the night, the Cats were 10-for-25 from the line.

“We work on those free throws constantly and to miss that many shots in one game – that’s not good,” Hood said.

In scoring, Sachman had a game-high 15 points for Brandywine and Zakiyyah Abdullah ended with 11.

The Bobcats, now 6-1 overall, host Parchment in a BCS Athletic Conference Red Division game at 6 p.m.

Boys basketball

In boys basketball action, Brandywine fell to Kalamazoo Christian, 51-41.

Both teams came out of the gate neck-and-neck, and the Bobcats led after the first, 15-14, and at halftime, 26-25.

But the Comets took control of the game in the second half, pushing ahead after the third, 40-36, and eventually claiming the victory.

Jordan Abrams was the only Bobcat to score in double digits, ending the night with 12 points.

Brandywine, now 4-10 overall, host Parchment Friday night for homecoming at 7:30 p.m.

Niles at Mattawan

MATTAWAN — Visiting Niles had a chance to hand Mattawan its first loss of the season, but came up short in a 44-43 SMAC non-divisional boys basketball game Tuesday night.

The Vikings (3-3) lead 43-42 with 20 seconds to play, but turned the ball over, which led to a Wildcat layup.

Junior Austin Brookins led Niles with 18 points and three steals, while senior Robert Brown added 12 points and five rebounds.

Niles was just 2-of-5 from the free throw line and 3-of-17 from 3-point range.

The Vikings head to St. Joseph for its sixth road game of the season. Tipoff for the SMAC West Division contest is set for 7:15 p.m.