In previous seasons, a bad shooting night from the perimeter meant that the Brandywine girls basketball team would struggle.

Despite an off night from the outside, the Bobcats were able to get the ball inside to its post players and roll to a 66-40 BCS Athletic Conference West Division win over Buchanan Friday night.

The win was the 58th straight for the Bobcats, who improved to 3-0 overall.

“Last year we struggled against Buchanan, we struggled against Edwardsburg, and we struggled against New Buffalo in the district,” Brandywine coach Josh Hood said. “All three are good man-to-man teams and we didn’t have a post game. The whole off season was dedicated to finding a post game.

“Tonight we made more post moves and most post entries than any time since Madison Pellow was here three years ago. We showed we can be a multi-dimensional team, not just shooting the 3. Even though shooting 3s is fun and the girls enjoy it, we’ve got to be more of a post-oriented team if we’re going to be successful.”

Brandywine got out to an early 10-point advantage, but then went cold. Buchanan took advantage of the shooting woes to close the gap to 24-22 in the closing minute of the first half.

But a 3-pointer from Alyssa Bolen at the buzzer gave the Bobcats a 27-22 lead.

From there it was all Brandywine as the Bobcats outscored the Bucks 39-18 in the second half.

“I thought Buchanan handled the pressure well in the first half,” Hood said. “But we are not just about pressuring you for 16 minutes. We want to create 32 minutes of chaos. It wears you down and I think we wore them down tonight.”

Brandywine got 20 points from Makenna Hartline, which led all scorers. Jaleesa Gardner added 12.

Buchanan was led by Jade Mosier’s eight points.

 

BRANDYWINE 66, BUCHANAN 40

BUCHANAN 40

Brooke Wesner 2 2-2 6, Chrissy Bennett 3 1-2 7, Selica Jones 5 3-2 12, Sammi Luzandre 0 0-6 0, Ali Kyles 1 1-3 3, Jayla Bibbs 2 0-0 4, Jade Mosier 3 2-5 8, Myeshia Mayo 0 0-4 0. Totals: 16 8-25 40

BRANDYWINE 66

Makenna Hartline 7 3-7 20, Jaleesa Garner 5 1-4 12, Mia Stella 0 0-2 0, Michaela Hartline 3 0-0 7, Maken Bowen 3 1-2 7, Emily Erwin 1 2-2 5, Rachel Szilagyi 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Bolen 1 2-2 5, Brooke Smith 2 4-7 8. Totals: 23 13-26 66

 

Buchanan                   7          22       34       40

Brandywine               14       27       47       66

3-point baskets: Buchanan 0, Brandywine 7 (Ma. Hartline 3, Garner, Mi. Hartline, Erwin, Bolen), Total fouls (fouled out): Buchanan24 (Bennett, Bibbs), Brandywine 23 (none). Varsity records: Buchanan 2-1, 1-1 BCS West; Brandywine 3-0, 2-0 (BCS West)