CASSOPOLIS — In Monday’s opening round Division 3 district game against Bridgman, Brandywine coach Josh Hood commented about his team’s lack of intensity to begin the game.

“I did not see the eye of the tiger from the opening tip,” Hood said. “I was very disappointed, and I let them know about that. We have to come out with more energy for Watervliet.” 

Fast forward to Wednesday night. The Bobcats squared off against the Panthers in the first game of a semifinal doubleheader at Cassopolis High School, a game in which Brandywine (21-1) won 55-24, but also could have been much different. 

Decatur beat host Cassopolis 65-36 in the other semifinal to set up tonight’s championship game.

Brandywine had a dismal night shooting the ball in the first half. Even though the Bobcats continued to get open looks from 3-point range and in the paint, the shots continued to miss the mark.

Leading at halftime 24-13, the Bobcats missed 26 shots in the opening 16 minutes.

“Tonight, the shots weren’t falling in the first half,” Hood said. “When you shoot that bad, and it was absolutely terrible, and you still have an 11-point lead, well, then that’s good.”

When asked about how you coach away the negative mentality surrounding the shooting effort, Hood had the perfect response waiting.

“For us, it’s shots on goal,” Hood said. “We are one of the few teams in the area that these girls have the green light and we are going to chuck it, and we are going to keep on chucking it, and sooner or later they are going to go in. You saw that once it started happening in the third quarter, then it fueled our defense. We continue to pressure teams by not slowing down, and we have got to keep shooting to keep the tempo where we want it.”

It didn’t take long in the third quarter for the tempo to finally stay in Brandywine’s favor for the rest of the night. The Bobcats forced eight turnovers (finished with 32) and tallied more points (16) than what the Panthers had scored until that point.

“Overall, in the third quarter, that’s a snapshot of what we should look like for 32 minutes,” Hood said. “I’m very proud of the way the girls responded.”

Kennedy Byrd and Alexis Rhodes led the way with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Zakiyyah Abdullah and reserve Alysa Adamczyk both contributed nine points in the win.

Looking ahead to the title matchup, Decatur (16-5) boasts a senior team with all-time leading scorer Regan Rose leading the way. They will be looking for the upset.

“We are going into a war on Friday night,” Hood said. “Nobody remembers a district runner-up. We are into the hardware. Our job is to win championships, and we will be ready on Friday night. And we are excited for the opportunity to play for another one.”

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.