Head coach Brandon Allman said Brownstown has struggled a lot with teams with length and size, and that’s exactly what Bloomington North presented on Tuesday night as the Braves hosted the Cougars inside The Pit.

The Braves were able to prevail against it this time, coming away with a 48-44 victory to improve to 11-11 on the season.

It was a first half of runs between the two teams.

First, the Braves got off to a nice 6-1 start after some free throws by Kalee Borden and a bucket by Andrea Bair. But Bloomington North quickly got back into the lead thanks to the stellar play of Ava Reitmeyer, who scored nine first-half points and helped give the Cougars a 13-9 lead after the first quarter.

Bloomington extended its lead to as much as 20-13, but that’s when Brownstown roared back. Maddy Hackman was the aggressor, getting to the hoop and draining a 3-point attempt to score 12 points in the first half.

A 3-pointer from Hannah Stahl gave the Braves the lead back, and Brownstown took a 25-22 advantage into the locker room, outscoring the Cougars 16-9 in the second frame.

“I thought it gave our girls a lot of energy to make our run in the second quarter,” Allman said.

Stahl opened the third quarter with two quick baskets for the Braves to extend the lead to 29-22.

Brownstown’s defensive prowess continued in the third quarter as it held Bloomington North to single digits again, this time at eight, outscoring the Cougars 15-8 to take a 40-30 lead into the fourth quarter.

But the Braves’ offense stalled to begin the fourth. Bloomington North went on a 6-0 run thanks to a couple buckets from Mia Robbennolt.

“I think we turned it over the first three possessions of the fourth quarter,” Allman said.

Brownstown’s lead was just four until Hackman came up with a huge 3-pointer to stretch it back out to seven.

“That’s what our best player and career leading 3-point shooter in school history — those are the shots we expect her to make,” Allman said. “I feel like every shot she takes beyond the 3-point line is going in. I have the upmost confidence in her. That was a huge bucket.”

Another big bucket down the stretch was Addie Shelton converting an and-one.

“That was maybe even a bigger bucket at a bigger time,” Allman said.

Robbennolt made a couple of free throws down the stretch, and from there, Brownstown was tasked with hanging on to a five-point lead the rest of the way, requiring the Braves to take care of the basketball and make their free throws.

Emma Klinge stepped to the line four times in the final 30 seconds and made 3-of-4 free throws to help the Braves secure the 4-point victory.

“I thought we made our free throws,” Allman said. “No turnovers in the final minutes, that’s huge. We’ll need that going into sectionals.”

The Braves have just two games remaining on their schedule before the postseason begins, and those are this Saturday at home against West Washington and next Thursday on the road at North Harrison.

The sectional pairings for girls basketball will be aired exclusively on IHSAAtv.org on Sunday at 5 p.m.

“We gotta continue to get better at finishing around the rim,” Allman said. “We practice it all the time. Just continue to get better offensively, running our sets, our timing, things like that.”