For The Tribune
COLUMBUS
Tuesday night at Columbus East, it was two Olympian seniors, each stepping up in a half, along with some excellent free throw shooting from a freshman that led the home team to a 62-55 victory over visiting Brownstown Central.
Claire Cunningham dominated the paint for the Olympians in the first half, as she scored eight of her 10 points and was a physical presence defensively, giving Brownstown fits with her 6-foot-1 frame.
Although the Braves only trailed 15-14 after one quarter, the second quarter was a different story.
A Cunningham bucket extended East’s lead to eight points just 2 minutes into the period. After trading free throws, East freshman Albany Speers gave the Olympians their largest lead of the first half on a putback basket with 2 minutes remaining in the half at 25-15.
Brownstown was able to answer, however, with a five-point run of their own, courtesy of Ashley Schroer, who scored two field goals and a free throw on her way to a team-leading 22 points, to cut the lead to five.
Olivia Linnemann came off of the Olympian bench to give East some momentum heading into the locker room by scoring the final three points of the half to put the home team up 28-20 at the break.
The second half began with the Olympians coming out more aggressively on offense, as their outside shot was not falling.
East senior Sarah Park was able to find room on the interior of the Braves defense and score six quick points. A Tayler Garland 3-pointer stymied the run, but the Braves were still trailing by 11 points halfway through the third quarter.
Brownstown quickly found its shooting touch, however, and went on a 7-0 run to cut the East lead to 34-30, leading to an Olympian timeout.
Unfortunately for the Braves, that is as close as they would get for the remainder of the night.
The Olympians were able to stave off the Brownstown rally. With the help of Park, who scored all 16 of her 18 points in the second half, and a perfect night from the free throw line for freshman Koryn Greiwe, who went 10 for 10 in the final period, East ended the night with a hard-fought victory over the Braves.