What a night for basketball as two teams tied for second place battled it out at Bruin Arena Friday night.
The 3-2 Cascade Christian Challengers rolled into town after taking the win in the first Lady Bruin, Lady Challenger match-up earlier this season in league play.
The Lady Bruins, riding two blow out wins over St. Mary’s and South Umpqua came into the game with Cascade Christian with a score to settle. In the first match-up earlier in the season the Lady Challengers ran with high energy on the Lady Bruins, while desperately fending off Lady Bruin rally’s late to take the 3 point win.
Well, Coach Schofield made sure that would not be the case here at home Friday night, as it was the Lady Bruins who brought the energy from the whistle, challenging every ball, loose or not.
At 5:30pm Friday night, the two teams tipped off. By 5:34.., a street fight broke out at the girls basketball game. To say this was a physical game would be an understatement. Lady Bruin senior guard Avana Pettus #10 led the way with tough defense and confident drives to the hoop. But the Lady Challengers stuck to their game plan, running off of rebounds and driving to the hoop exploiting their height advantage inside. Pettus had a bucket, a 3 pointer and went 2 for 2 from the line as the Bruins put 12 points on the board in the first period.
But after the first quarter, the Lady Challengers led 12-18 after the Lady Bruins lost focus late in the first.
In the second the Lady Challengers ran some more putting another 17 points up with 5 players hitting shots. The Lady Bruins struggled to hit baskets in the second period, getting shots up that just wouldn’t fall. Three Lady Bruins scored in the second, but the Lady Challenger defense held the Lady Bruins to just 9 points in the period and took a 21-35 lead into the half time break.
Adjustments.., trailing by 14 going into the third period, it was all about adjustments at the half. And an animated Coach Schofield made those adjustments. The Lady Bruin defense dug deep, and called upon those long lonely conditioning days before the season started, and simply out ran the Lady Challengers for sixteen straight minutes.
The Lady Bruins methodically closed the gap, getting with in 10 points at the 4:00 minute mark of the third. Junior center Sierra Fitzhugh #00 left nothing on the court as she broke up Lady Challenger plays, drove the inside and pressured the Lady Challengers in the paint at both ends of the court. Fitzhugh had a three pointer and a bucket for 5 of the Lady Bruin 11 points in the quarter. Pettus had 4 points in the third and junior Gracie Harms hit a basket as the Lady Bruins drew with in 5 points to start the final period.
After allowing only one Lady Challenger basket for only two points in the third and still trailing by 5 points at the start of the fourth, the energy in the building was palpable. The Lady Bruins could clearly feel it and used it to out hustle the Lady Challengers in the final minutes. Junior Sierra Fitzhugh had two baskets and was all over the boards for the rebounds.
Still trailing with less than 2:00 minutes to play in the contest, senior Sidney Alexander #11 rose up from the left corner and popped a 3 pointer that stunned the Lady Challengers and put the Lady Bruins up for the first time in the contest with just 1:14 left to play.
Junior forward Shelby Jirsa #5 came up huge under the hoop with just seconds left in the game, fighting for a loose ball on the floor and put away the lay-up to extend the Lady Bruin lead.
Senior two guard Avana Pettus #10 led all scorers with 11 points from 3 baskets, a 3 pointer and two free throws on the night. Sierra Fitzhugh followed with 9 hard fought points from three baskets and a 3 pointer, and junior forward Shelby Jirsa #5 had 8 points as the Lady Bruins held on to take the 44-39 win.
Talking with Coach Schofield after the game he said “They were the tougher team in the first half. They killed us on the boards in the first half.” he said. “We settled for quick 3’s and didn’t attack the paint and it seemed we just couldn’t play defense without fouling and it really hurt us in the first half.” He went on to say “that he and his staff challenged the girls to play tougher… to box out, rebound, attack the paint offensively and win the hustle plays. We couldn’t be happier with the way they responded.”
The Lady Bruins will be on the road next Tuesday as they travel to Winston to take on the 3-3 Lady Trojans at 5:30pm.
