Brandon’s girls basketball team had their chances in their district playoff game against Clarkston Nov. 15 at Lapeer East.
However, the Wolves had just enough left in the tank to pull out the win, defeating the Blackhawks 32-30 to end Brandon’s season. The Blackhawks finished with an 8-13 overall record.
The Blackhawks took a 26-20 lead into the final quarter, but the Wolves (13-8) outscored Brandon 12-4 in the fourth. The Blackhawks did not score in the fourth quarter until sophomore Katrina Hibbs hit a shot with 43 seconds left. Junior Mariah Andre scored at the buzzer for Brandon, but it was not enough to pull out the win.
‘Basically, we held the lead until about two minutes left,? Brandon coach Bryan Ray said. ‘We started settling and taking jumpers instead of attacking the basket. The kids did a great job and deserved to win. We just ran out of steam.?
Andre and junior Brooke Schaefer led the Blackhawks in scoring with eight points apiece.
Propelled by a second-half scoring outburst, the Blackhawks defeated visiting Holly 56-21 on Nov. 11 in their final regular season contest.
The Blackhawks and Bronchos battled to a standstill after the first quarter, with each team scoring eight points. However, Brandon began to pull away in the second quarter, taking a 23-14 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the floodgates opened as Brandon outscored Holly 33-7 the rest of the way to cruise to victory.
Senior Jessica Jennings and sophomore Savannah Stedman each scored 12 points, while Schaefer added 10 points for Brandon.
The loss to Clarkston marked the final game for two Brandon seniors, Jennings and Melissa McCarty. Ray said Jennings had a lot of responsibility put on her shoulders after co-captain Jessica Liebner was lost for the season with a knee injury early in the year.
‘Jess did a tremendous job when she was thrown into a leadership role,? Ray said. ‘She did that as well as she could. She stepped up and grew as a person. As for Melissa, this was her first full year on the team, and she handled her duties well and had some good games for us.?
Ray said keys for the team in the offseason will be to get stronger and play as much as they can so the girls will be better equipped to play hard for ‘a full 32 minutes.?
He also said the Blackhawks should have ‘a huge nucleus? coming back next year with juniors Andre, Liebner, and Schaefer, and sophomores Meg Donnay (out for most of the season with a knee injury), Stedman, and Hibbs.