Brownstown welcomed the No. 9-ranked team in Class 4A into The Pit on Tuesday night, and Columbus East proved why its deserving of that ranking in a 71-50 victory.

The Olympians came right out of the gate as each starter made their first shot attempt, including a pair of 3-pointers from guards Koryn Greiwe and Albany Speer.

The Olympians were off to a 10-2 start before head coach Brandon Allman called timeout.

“I’m not a guy who likes to call timeout very early, but I had to call one,” Allman said.

The Braves struggled to break East’s press and zone defense, but thanks to some elite shot-making by Maddy Hackman, Brownstown climbed back in it.

East led 22-14 after one, and Hackman had 12 of the Braves’ points. East’s Saige Stahl also asserted her dominance early as well inside the paint, finishing with 1o first-quarter points.

Brownstown got off to a hot start in the second quarter as Hackman increased her total to 16 points, and Jenna Klosterman came off the bench to hit a 3 to bring the Braves within 1, 24-23.

“She’s a great shooter,” Allman said of Hackman. “She got it going. Some of those were really tough shots.”

But East weathered the storm nicely. They went to a box-and-1 on Hackman, and some more buckets by Stahl and a three from Speer pushed their lead up to as much as 12.

What was worse for Brownstown aside from the East run was that Hackman came up hobbled and had to leave the floor for the final minutes of the first half.

Klosterman continued to be a sharp shooter from deep for the Braves. She hit three 3-pointers and had 11 points for Brownstown as the Braves trailed 37-29 at halftime.

“Definitely her best game in her young career,” Allman said of Klosterman. “She competed. She rebounded the heck out of the basketball for us.”

Hackman returned for the second half, but went scoreless in the second 16 minutes as East pulled away. Allman thought the ankle injury really limited Hackman.

“I don’t think she had the same boost she had,” Allman said. “She didn’t get many clean looks, but I don’t think she had the explosiveness that she had early.”

Greiwe had a couple early fast break steals as the Olympians got up 43-29 early in the third. They only extended their lead from there as they went on to win the game 71-50.

It was a balanced scoring attack for the Olympians with Stahl 20, Greiwe 19 and Speer 18.

“Greiwe is a really nice player, four-year starter, she’s gotta go down as one of the all-time greats at Columbus East,” Allman said. “Then that Speer girl, she hit more shots tonight than I’ve seen her hit in her previous four or five games.

“When they’ve got 6-3, 6-1 and 6-foot in there, and you are trying to concentrate on them, those girls (Grewie and Speer) gotta be able to shoot the basketball because they’re gonna get a lot of open looks.”

As for the Braves, Hackman led the way with her 16 first-half points, and Klosterman added 13.

Allman said he was pleased with the competitive spirit of his team and didn’t think they took any possessions off.

Brownstown’s JV team got the victory before varsity tipped off.

Pasleigh Peters hit a couple big threes down the stretch, and hit one with 5.3 seconds left to draw the Braves within one point. As Columbus East went for the inbounds pass, Mallory Klosterman got the steal and laid it in with 1 second left as the Braves won at the last second, 39-38.

Klosterman led the Braves with 10 points, Peters had 8, Addison Darlage 8, Jo Brittain and Abby Schroer each 6 and Kelsey Schneider 1. As for Columbus East, Jenna Guse led the way with 13 points, Brielle Stevens 11, Jordan Simms 8, and Allison Craig, Victoria Cuhadar and Messiah Trapp each had 2 points.

Brownstown (2-4) will be back in action this Friday at Scottsburg at 7:30 p.m., while the Olympians (6-1) will play at home on Saturday against Martinsville at 12:30 p.m.