BROWNSTOWN — After a shaky start taking care of the ball, head coach Brandon Allman felt like his Brownstown girls basketball things cleaned things up as the Braves scored their third-straight victory against county foe Trinity Lutheran on Tuesday night.

The Braves were able to top the Cougars 59-43 to improve to 3-1 this season.

“We hit some shots, and it always helps when you hit some shots,” Allman said. “Man, we have to figure something out at the start of games because we turn the ball over way too many times, but I like the way we responded.”

Trinity got off to a good start in the game as Jordan Brewer had a couple steals that led to transition baskets.

Kalee Borden got Brownstown back in it by nailing two consecutive 3-pointers to tie the game at 8-8. The Braves were able to go on a mini run to close the first quarter after Bailey Tabeling had a collision with Jenna Klosterman and had to come out of the game.

Brownstown pulled away from Trinity to end the first quarter with a 21-12 lead.

“They went on a run toward the end of the first quarter and early second quarter,” Trinity head coach Mike Lang said. “We just can’t let teams go on runs like that.”

Tabeling was able to return to the game in the second quarter, and she scored 10 first-half points to keep the Cougars hanging around.

Maddy Hackman got it going from the outside, hitting two 3-pointers and scoring eight first-half points. Brownstown got contributions from six different players in the first half to take a 29-21 lead into the break.

Liza Froedge hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half to bring Trinity back to within single digits.

Both teams exchanged baskets at a high rate in the third quarter of Tuesday’s contest. Tabeling continued to score easily in the paint while Kelsey Schneider, despite having a rough start to the game handling the ball, started to be aggressive offensively.

“We need that type of Kelsey,” Allman said. “If she plays like that, that just gives us another weapon we can utilize.”

Two straight baskets by Madison Keith cut the Brownstown lead to just six, but then Borden got an offensive rebound and put it back up for an and-one to push the Braves advantage back out to nine.

Brownstown led 48-39 after three.

Borden opened the fourth quarter with a layup to put Brownstown up 11, and then Klosterman and Hackman each got buckets to give the Braves their largest lead of the night up to that point at 15.

Trinity couldn’t close the gap from there, and Lang felt like his team just ran out of gas in the eventual 16-point defeat.

“We competed, we played hard, but we ran out of gas late,” Lang said. “Late in the third quarter we made a run and then we gave up an offensive rebound and an and-one. That really zapped our momentum. I’m pleased with how we came out.

Tabeling scored 21 points to lead Trinity, Brewer scored nine, Keith six, Froedge four and Laura Roeder three. Lang said he wants to see Froedge attempt more shots.

“We have to have Liza putting up 10 shots a game and bringing that attitude I know she can play with,” Lang said.

He felt like the Cougars got good looks in their offense as well, especially when they got out in transition.

“We want to be a team that’s going to push it up the court, but for us to do that, we have to be in better shape,” Lang said.

For Brownstown, its senior duo led the way once again as Borden scored 16 and Hackman had 15. Schneider contributed 11, Klosterman scored eight, and Harley Toppe, Addison Darlage, Camryn Thompson and Hailey Hobson all scored two points, and Sophie Wischmeier scored one.

Brownstown will be home to Mitchell on Friday night while Trinity will host Crothersville on Saturday.

“It’s a huge from a confidence standpoint for the girls,” Allman said on winning three in a row. “We have to keep building. There’s still a ton of stuff to clean up.”

Both Allman and Lang have respect for one another, and they hope to see each other again in the Toby Yoho Classic, which is played after Christmas.