BLOOMFIELD
The largest in-season high school girls basketball tournament in the state kicked off Friday at Eastern Greene’s elementary and middle schools.
A total of 24 games will be played over the two-day span at the Toby Yoho Classic, with 12 teams making the journey to Bloomfield.
Both Brownstown Central and Trinity Lutheran are in the mix, and both each played a pair of pool games Friday.
Braves sweep day one
Brownstown Central gave up nine points or fewer in seven out of eight quarters played in Pool C play Friday.
In both of its first-day games, the Braves (13-4) dominated the opposition.
The Braves opened the day with a 59-34 win against Edgewood.
Brownstown Central constructed a 15-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and extended the advantage to 36-12 by intermission.
The Braves outscored the Mustangs 16-15 in the third quarter before both teams put up seven in the final eight minutes.
In part of the big lead, the Braves were able to play 12 different girls.
“It gives our bench some more varsity experience,” Braves coach Karla Rieckers said. “It was nice to see that we didn’t lose anything when we put them in.”
Ashley Schroer led the Braves with 16 points and Halle Hehman scored nine.
The Braves outrebounded the Mustangs 23-17 and had 19 turnovers to Edgewood 29.
However, Payton Farmer, a starting forward, had to leave the game with concussion-like symptoms during the game after a collision. Rieckers said that Farmer will likely miss two weeks due to the injury.
In its second game, Brownstown Central steamrolled North Daviess 57-23 to win Pool C.
The Braves jumped to a 10-2 lead by the 1:38 mark in the first quarter behind four different scorers. At the end of the first quarter, the Braves led 12-5.
After the teams exchanged baskets to start the second quarter, a 6-0 run put the Braves up 24-10 with 2:30 left in the half. A buzzer-beater from the Cougars’ Hunter Beuhler cut the deficit to 26-14 at halftime.
Out of the break, the Braves put the game out of reach.
Brownstown had scoring streaks of 7-0 and 10-0 to go up 45-18 at the end of 24 minutes of play. A 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter put the Braves up 54-18 with 5:33 left in the game.
Brownstown Central emptied its bench, again, as they cruised to the win.
“I think, for the most part, our defense has been good,” Rieckers said. “In the first half against North Daviess, I didn’t think we were jumping to the ball like we needed to. We talked bout that at halftime and did a much better job at that.
“After halftime, we tried to fire them up a little bit. We wanted to put them away and not let them turn it around.”
Schroer led the Braves with 11 points and Kristen Stuckwisch added nine.
The Braves won both the rebounding (21-16) and turnover (4-24) margins.
Brownstown Central will play at 1 p.m. today. If they win, the Braves will play in the championship at 7 p.m. A loss would send them to the third place game at 5 p.m.
“I like our chances,” Rieckers said. “I hope that we come out and play hard. We will get some rest since we don’t play until 1 p.m. Hopefully we will be ready to go and compete with whoever we go up against.
“Regardless of who it will be, we’re going to have two tough games (today).”
Trinity splits games
Trinity Lutheran (13-2) started the day with a 54-33 loss to Danville but came back to defeat Eastern Greene 70-24 in Pool A play.
Against Danville, the Cougars kept the game close in the first half before a big third quarter put the Warriors up big.
Trinity trailed 10-8 after eight minutes of play and was down 25-19 at the half. Out of the break, the Warriors outscored the Cougars 23-9 in the third quarter to lead 48-28. In a low-scoring fourth quarter, the Cougars scored eight points while giving up six.
Just three players scored for Trinity in the game: Abby Hackman scored 19, Savannah Harweger had eight and Sydney Jaynes totaled six.
Trinity had 27 turnovers in the game.
“The girls were down a little bit, “Cougars coach Mike Lang said. “Danville is a really good team. We did a lot of things to hurt ourselves in that game. We knew the best thing to do was to put that game behind us.”
In Game 2, the Cougars built a large lead in the early goings.
Against the host school, the Cougars opened the game on a 16-3 run by the 3:03 mark. In that span, Jaynes and Harweger each scored six.
A 3-pointer by Harweger and buzzer-beater by Hackman extended the Cougars’ lead to 21-6 at the end of eight minutes of play.
Trinity continued to shoot the ball well in the second quarter, going on a 11-4 run by 2:36. Piper Acton scored five points, including a 3-pointer, and Hackman and Maddie Bell each added treys during the scoring streak.
At the break, the Cougars held a 34-10 advantage.
Out of halftime, Trinity scored seven unanswered to lead 41-10.
While the Thunderbirds Went on a mini 7-0 run from 3:17 to 2:33 in the third quarter, the Cougars finished the quarter on an 8-0 scoring spree. Hackman again made a basket at the buzzer, and Trinity held a 53-20 lead.
The Cougars’ bench was emptied a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter and put in some solid minutes.
From 6:02 to 24 seconds left on the clock, Trinity scored 13 unanswered points. In the fourth, Delaney Maschino scored all 10 of her points in the game.
Lang said he was pleased with the bench play in the final minutes.
“We didn’t have a letdown,” he said. “When we made substitutions, the girls saw the floor well. Delaney came in and scored a quick 10 points. Hannah Sabotin came in and had a blocked shot, rebound and assist. The thing was that we maintained our composure and ran the offense. That’s how you build and get better.”
The Cougars pulled down 30 rebounds and had eight turnovers against the Thunderbirds.
Jaynes led the Cougars with 20 points to go along eight rebounds and four blocks, and Hackman added 12 points.
Trinity’s first game today will be played at 11:15 a.m. The Cougars then will play again at either 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. depending on if they are victorious.
“We’re going to need to have depth (today),” Lang said. “That fourth game will be survival of the fittest.”
Lang said there’s a lot of good competition, again, at this year’s tournament.
“It’s an outstanding tournament. You look at Danville, Brownstown, Paoli, Owen Valley, us — it’s solid up and down. They’re doing a great job of running everything. There’s no easy games. You need to come out ready to play.”