Coach Schofield’s No. 8 ranked Brookings-Harbor Lady Bruins stepped onto the basketball court Thursday afternoon at Marshfield High School in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A Girls Basketball Championships and ran into a tough No. 1 ranked Burns Lady Highlander team that made for some good basketball.
Both teams came out ready to play and the Lady Highlanders defense had clearly done their homework as they focused on shutting down the Lady Bruins inside game. The Lady Bruins, led by sophomore power forward Lexi Schofield #1, managed only 8 points in the period. Schofield hit two 3 pointers for 6 points while the Lady Highlanders denied the Lady Bruins an inside game. The Lady Bruins Mickey Fulton relentlessly pounded into the paint in the first period getting to the line twice going 2 for 2. This Lady Highlander tactic worked by not only being able to beat up the Lady Bruins in the paint, but not allowing the Lady Bruin shooters to gain any momentum or build any shooting confidence as the Lady Highlanders seemingly couldn’t miss rolling up 14 points in the quarter.
The Lady Bruins shook off their playoff nerves in the second period and applied their defensive press which slowed Burns down and forced them to work. The second period appeared to be much different than the first as pressure defense had players invading each others personal space with close play consistently in each others grill with no room to make a mistake. The Bruins put 6 players in the scorebook in the second period. Sophomore forward Sierra Fitzhugh #00 committed to ending the drought of scoring in the paint as she fearlessly challenged Burns by driving the lane. Fitzhugh went to the line 3 times in the period going 1 for 2 as the Lady Bruins went on a 9-4 run late in the second period. Schofield continued to keep the Lady Bruins in the game hitting a basket and a 3 pointer, junior guard Avana Pettus hit a 3 pointer, Fulton got to the line again and went 2 for 2 from the line, junior guard Sidney Alexander hit a bucket and senior center Chloe McCrae went 2 for 2 from the line as the Lady Bruins attempted to assert themselves inside. The Lady Bruins out scored Burns 13-11, closing a Lady Highlander 6 point lead to just 2 points going into the half trailing 23-25.
Seeing how McCrae and Fitzhugh worked the inside game in the second period, coach Schofield made adjustments to get under the basket and soften the bellies of the Burns inside defense. Sierra Fitzhugh quite literally flung herself into the adjustment and forced the Lady Highlander defense to let her shoot in the lane or foul her. Clearly Burns chose to foul as Fitzhugh got to the line 6 times in the third period going 5 for 6 from the line. Schofield, who led all Lady Bruins shooters in the game with 19 points, hit her fourth 3 pointer of the game and Avana Pettus and Sidney Alexander both hit buckets as the Lady Bruins put up 12 points to the 16 points by the Lady Highlanders.
Going into the final period trailing again by 6, 35-41, Burns went back to their first-period gameplan and shut down the Lady Bruins offensively while seemingly being unable to miss a shot themselves. Schofield was the only Lady Bruin to score in the final period hitting a 3 pointer and basket for 5 points. As time ran out the Lady Highlanders ran up the score putting up another 16 points and extending their lead to 17 points, making a relatively close game appear to be a blowout.
“We were really tight. We had some good moments, but we were just too inconsistent all game long. The girls kept battling back though. We just couldn’t ever get into a groove offensively. Some of that is just the result of playing good teams like you run into at the state tournament and some of it was just nerves.” said Coach Schofield after the game.
“They beat us up on the glass, especially in the 2nd half. And we committed too many unforced turnovers. Now the challenge is moving past this one emotionally so that we are ready to go tomorrow morning.” he went on to say.
The Lady Bruins will play Oregon Episcopal at 9:00am this morning at North Bend High School.
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