The Brownstown girls basketball team had a good day at the Toby Yoho Classic at Eastern Greene Middle School on Tuesday afternoon.

The team started out its day with a tough battle with Loogootee.

The Braves were trailing 13-12 after the first quarter, and the second quarter didn’t see any baskets from either team until the under five-minute mark. Mallory Klosterman made a layup to break the scoring drought and gave the Braves a 14-13 lead.

Brownstown held Loogootee to just two points in the second quarter, and a jumper from Maddy Hackman and floater by Hannah Stahl gave the Braves an 18-15 lead going into halftime.

The start of the third quarter was the big difference in the game. Brownstown began trapping Loogootee with its zone, and it allowed the team to get out to a 10-point lead at 25-15.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy. We started pressing them and getting turnovers, we got the pace of the game where we wanted,” head coach Brandon Allman said.

Andrea Bair was aggressive on the boards in the third quarter, and she also helped keep Brownstown afloat in the first half when scoring was a struggle.

“I thought she came out with a ton of energy, and I thought she kept us alive, especially in the first half,” Allman said. “She leads by example in her effort and how hard she plays.”

As strong as Brownstown started the third quarter, the Braves couldn’t close it out as strong as they hoped. Loogootee went on a 12-2 run to tie things up at 27 heading into the final frame.

Brownstown once again started the quarter strong. Two free throws from Kalee Borden put the team in front, then Borden got a steal and scored a layup while Hackman got fouled away from the ball. Borden’s basket counted, and Hackman got two free throws since the Braves were in the double bonus and the foul was after the basket.

That stretch gave Brownstown a 33-27 lead.

Hackman hit a big 3-pointer to give Brownstown more breathing room, and the Braves needed every bit of that because their free-throw shooting didn’t help them down the stretch.

Brownstown missed 16 free throws in the game, and Loogootee made it tight, but Brownstown was able to prevail 44-40.

“Our free throw shooting was horrendous,” Allman said. “I hate to be negative, but if we made just a few of those, it’s a different ball game.”

Hackman and Bair each had 10 points to lead Brownstown. Borden scored seven. Klinge, Stahl and Jenna Klosterman each had five points, and Mallory Klosterman scored two.

The second game was a less stressful game for Brownstown, who played Southwestern (Hanover). After a slow start, the Braves caught fire in the first quarter.

Klinge knocked down a three, Hackman nailed three 3-pointers and scored 14 first-quarter points to give Brownstown a 29-11 advantage.

Stahl had a string of three-straight 2-pointers due to the pressure Brownstown forced on the Rebels in the second quarter. The Braves took a 46-22 lead at halftime.

“I thought in our press, we were a lot better at taking away angles,” Allman said. “Our girls did a really nice job of reading and rotating. We were able to score off a lot of their turnovers, which was great. We really need to use our defense to generate our offense, and I thought we did that.”

Brownstown went on to defeat Southwestern (Hanover) 62-35 to improve to 2-0 on the day.

The shooting was much better for Brownstown in the game, making seven 3-pointers.

“Once you’re able to hit some outside shots, teams are going to close out hard and you can shot fake and get to the lane, and we did that as well,” Allman said.

Hackman led the team with 22 points, Jenna Klosterman scored 13, Stahl had six, Klinge five, Bair four, Borden two, Kelsey Schneider two and Addison Darlage one.

Brownstown, now 7-8, will be competing in the semifinals of the Toby Yoho Classic this morning at 11:15 a.m. against Trinity Lutheran. The two Jackson County teams played earlier this season on Nov. 16, and the Cougars won a thrilling game, 57-52.

The winner of the game between the Braves and Cougars will advance to the championship game of the Toby Yoho Classic at 6:15 p.m.