After playing the last game of the evening in a hard fought battle with Nyssa Thursday evening, the Bruin girls were one of the early games Friday morning, tipping off for a chance to continue play Saturday morning against the Amity Lady Warriors, who came into the tournament ranked #6, with a 17-8 overall record.
The combination of the late game and early start clearly weighed on the Bruin girls, who ran into a team ready to run early and jumped out to 11 unanswered points to start the game. The Bruin girls had 7 turnovers in the first three minutes of play contributing to the Lady Warriors 0-11 lead to start the first period, before junior Zoe Carlson, #11, got the Bruin girls on the scoreboard with a 3 pointer. Ashlyn Schofield #44 hit a 3 pointer and #12, and Rockette Marrington hit two freethrows as the Bruin girls managed 8 points in the period.
The cold outside shooting that has plagued the Bruin girls continued as the Bruin girls missed 6 outside shots in the first period and 6 more outside shots in the second with 6 more turnovers as well. However, the Bruin girls Ashlyn Schofield #44, and #11 Zoe Carlson combined with a Schofield 3 pointer and a Carlson lay-up for the Bruin girls 5 points in the period as they focused on their defense, slowing the Lady Warriors to just 8 points going into the half-time break 13-25.
Adjustments by coach Schofield and the Bruin girls turned the table on points off of turnovers in third period with hustle and tough defense, scoring 9 points off of Lady Warriors turnovers while allowing only 6 Amity points in the period. The Bruin girls attacked the basket early in the third, as Schofield hit two inside shots before senior Charlie Nolte, #10, hit a 3 pointer on the way to the Bruin girls 11 points in the period. The Brookings-Harbor girls held the Lady Warriors to just 6 points in the third, while closing the gap to just 7 points.
With the score now 24-31, the Brookings-Harbor girls turned up the intensity, again winning the points off of turn-overs statistic, they also had 9 points off of second shot opportunities, dominating the paint in the second half of play with 16 points in the key. The Bruin girls dropped 12 unanswered points in the fourth, taking their first lead, 34-33 with just under 4:00 minutes to play off of a Faith Burton 3 pointer.
Ashlyn Schofield hit a lay-up to extend the Bruin girls lead to 36-33 with 3:00 minutes to go, but a late Brookings-Harbor turn-over led to Amity lay-up to tie the game at 36-36 with 1:00 minute to play. After both teams miss opportunities to take a lead with under a minute to play, the Bruin girls failed to inbound the ball, turning it over to Amity with 28 seconds, who inbounded the ball and hit a mid range jumper with18 seconds to get the 36-38 win, eliminating Brookings-Harbor.
“This mornings game was a tough one to get up for… a lot of emotions after losing the night before…. the kids were tired…physically and emotionally.” coach Schofield said after the game. “All that showed in the first half.., we were a step slow defensively and didn’t play with much poise to start the game..,” he continued. “But our effort was fantastic in the second half, and they showed a level of resilience and toughness in that second half that we needed.”
