Pirates too much for Braves

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For The Tribune

BROWNSTOWN

The Brownstown Central girls’ basketball team fell behind Charlestown late in the second quarter of Saturday afternoon’s Mid-Southern Conference game on the Braves’ floor.

The Braves cut their deficit to five points late in the game but that was as close as they could get and Charlestown went home with a 58-52 win.

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Braves coach Karla Rieckers said she talked to her team before the game of not wanting to play from behind.

“That’s one of the things we didn’t want to do and unfortunately we got into that situation,” she said. “We did battle back.”

Tayler Garland made a pair of 3-pointers in the first period to keep the Braves close as they trailed 12-10 going into the second quarter.

Garland stayed hot in the second quarter as her fourth 3 of the game gave the Braves their final lead at 18-16 with 5:05 on the clock.

Samantha Matthews got hot for the Pirates with three baskets in the final three minutes to help her team to a 27-21 lead at the break.

Brownstown couldn’t get anything to fall in the first two minutes of the third quarter, and the Pirates went on an 8-0 run to open up a 35-21 lead.

Garland hit another 3-pointer and Madison Klinge, Halle Hehman and Shelby Stuckwisch added 3-point baskets over the final 3:36 when the Braves outscored the Pirates 9-6 to trail 43-33 going into the final period.

Charlestown scored the first five points of the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer by Hehman cut the difference to 50-43 with 3:51 remaining.

“For the most part in the second half I thought we shot the ball much better than we did in the first half,” Rieckers said. “We didn’t attack the basket in the first half the way I wanted us to attack the basket. In the second half I thought we did a better job of driving and dishing and getting some open looks.”

The Braves shot 16-for-46 for the game while Charlestown was 21-for-41. The Braves made 12 3-pointers and the Pirates made five.

Garland topped the Braves with a career high 26 points, including seven 3s.

Rieckers said that was not surprising to her.

“Tayler is a kid that is a very good shooter for us,” she said. “Most of the time when she’s not making its strictly mental for us because she hits everything in practice. She is a very good shooter.

“When we played over at the Toby Yoho I talked to her several times and told her ‘You’re a shooter,’ and I was glad to see her break out of that today. I hope she continues to do that with the last four games we have.”

Hehman was the only other player in double figures for the Braves with 11 points.

“For the most part I thought we had some looks and we had some kids that maybe had made some shots for us before that didn’t seem to be looking at the basket today when we needed them to be. We’ve just got to go back and keep working,” Rieckers said.

Charlestown (12-5, 4-2 MSC) had a balanced attack with Bri Harvey leading with 17 points, Matthews scored 12 and Gabrielle Gagnon 10.

“I thought we let Matthews get away a little bit in the first half,” Rieckers said. “Part of that may have been Kristen (Stuckwisch) being in foul trouble and not being able to play the whole time. In the second half we did a much better job on her.

“Harvey is a kid that I told the girls ‘make her go right,’ where she’s not as good, but we just let her dominate us and go left. “

The Braves played without Payton Farmer, who suffered a concussion in the Toby Yoho Tournament.

“They are a sectional opponent and more than likely we’ll see them again and hopefully have Peyton back then,” Rieckers said. “They did a lot of things well.

Brownstown (14-6, 5-3 MSC) will play at Hauser on Thursday night.

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