SCOTTSBURG
Turnovers can make or break a team during postseason basketball.
The Brownstown Central girls basketball team finished with 25 turnovers as it fell to North Harrison 52-44 in the first round of the Class 3A Scottsburg sectional Wednesday.
The Braves will graduate seven seniors this May: Brooke Ebbing, Riley Wischmeier, Olivia Goecker, Bailey Bonebright, Kasandra Rieckers, Ally Lorenzo and Jaelyn Reynolds
“They’re very, very special,” Braves coach Karla Rieckers said. “They’re a great group of girls. Not once did I ever have a problem with them discipline-wise, ever. They are good athletes, students, and we just wish them success. They’re all great kids, and they will be missed.”
The Braves opened the game on a 3-pointer from Ebbing.
Brownstown Central pressed early on defense and went up 7-3 at the 5:16 mark following a basket from Wischmeier.
With five seconds left on the clock, freshman Madison Klinge drilled a 3-pointer to give the Braves a 17-6 lead after eight minutes of play.
Wischmeier proved a force on the boards early, grabbing five rebounds in the opening quarter, and Ebbing led the Braves with nine points.
Ebbing continued to act as the Braves’ best scoring threat, despite getting double-teamed, in the second quarter as she netted five of her team’s 10 points in the period.
Following a 28-17 lead at halftime, things turned for the worst for the Braves.
Wischmeier made two of four free throws before the Cats (16-9) went on a 5-0 run to reduce the margin to four points.
Around the four-minute mark, Goecker netted the Braves’ only field goal in the third quarter.
From 1:38 until the clock ran out, the Cats went on a 7-1 run. North Harrison freshman Cali Nolot put the squad up for the first time in the game, hitting 1 of 2 free throws to make it 32-31.
The Braves turned the ball over twice in the final 30 seconds, and the Cats converted the giveaways to five points capped by a Carlie Burson field goal right before the buzzer.
Up 35-32, the Cats started on a mini 4-1 run to distance themselves at the start of the final quarter.
The closest Brownstown Central would get to North Harrison was at 39-36 when Morgan Wehmiller hit a pair of free throws with 4:27 remaining.
Possession basketball was the Cats’ game plan the rest of the contest.
“I just didn’t think we could get a break there when we needed one,” Karla Rieckers said. “We couldn’t get anything to kind of go our way toward the end, but we just needed to play through that.”
Lorenzo, Wehmiller, Wischmeir and Ebbing all fouled out in the final three minutes of play.
The Braves finished with 31 fouls to the Cats’ 22.
“We had some people get in foul trouble, and we had to play some different people,” Karla Rieckers said. “North Harrison is a good ball club. They’re young and play really aggressive. They played harder than we did in the second half.”
Ebbing led the Braves with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Wischmeier eight and 11 boards.
Freshman Jessicka Chiquito led the Cats with 22 points.
The Braves out-rebounded the Cats 31-15 on the night.
The Cats finished with 10 turnovers to the Braves’ 25.
“I think some of them were unforced turnovers,” Karla Rieckers said. “Not to take anything away from them because they played a good game, but we’re a veteran team that made some turnovers we shouldn’t make.”
With the loss, the Braves finish 19-5 on the season — the winningest season since 2011-12, when they finished 20-4.