Hard work, sacrifice pays off for Brandywine with district trophy

Published 1:13 am Saturday, March 9, 2024

By Scott Hassinger

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NILES — While other teenagers were enjoying their vacation last summer, the Brandywine girls’ basketball team was busily preparing for the 2023-24 season.

All that hard work and sacrifice paid off Friday as Josh Hood and his Lady Bobcats raised a Division 3 district championship trophy with a convincing 66-20 win at the ‘Bobcat Den’ over Constantine.

No. 2-ranked Brandywine (22-1) faces Hartford (15-8) in the second regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Monday in Bronson. Schoolcraft (12-12) battles No. 5-rated Kalamazoo Christian (23-1) in the opener at 5:30 p.m. The finals are Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Brandywine won its last district crown in 2020 before the rest of the tournament was canceled because of the Coronavirus. This Brandywine’s 11th district crown in 15 years under Hood.

“In 2021, we had COVID with some quarantine issues going on. We lost a heartbreaker to Buchanan a couple years ago and ran into a buzz saw last year when they were ranked No. 1,” Hood recalled. “It’s always a good feeling to be able to win districts. This doesn’t happen by chance and it wasn’t just handed to us. After we lost to Buchanan last year we knew we had the core of that team returning. These girls put in the necessary hard work and showed up over the summer. We traveled all over the place in the Midwest from Wisconsin Dells, to Plymouth, to Coldwater, Otsego to the South Bend Summer League. While other kids were enjoying the beaches, these girls were working to become better basketball players. This past fall our multi-sport athletes got up and came into school at 6 a.m. to get their shots in because they had fall sports practice after school. This is about these kids and their commitment to get their name up on that banner and be a part of Brandywine basketball history forever.”

Behind its stifling defensive pressure, Brandywine made Constantine wait almost halfway through the first quarter before the Falcons finally managed their first points on the scoreboard.

Brandywine raced out to a quick 12-0 advantage, including four possessions where the Lady Bobcats forced a Falcons’ turnover and scored off the miscue.

The Bobcats, who drained a total of 12 three-pointers on the night, knocked down six of those triples in the opening eight minutes. Senior point guard Ellie Knapp and Ireland Prenkert knocked down two triples apiece in that span, while Adelyn Drotoz and Miley Young all had one each in helping Brandywine build a 24-4 advantage after one quarter.

Drotoz knocked down three triples herself in the second quarter, while Young added a pair of uncontested layups and the Lady Bobcats made 6-of-8 free-throw attempts during the second quarter to help extend her team’s lead to 45-8 at halftime.

Constantine, a squad with 11 underclassmen on its 15-player roster, managed to outscore Brandywine 9-8 in the third quarter. However, the Lady Bobcats had already built themselves a commanding 54-16 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

“I’m very proud of these girls. In past years, we’ve gotten off to a slow start in some games. But this year we’ve came out with the jets on. We’ve had over 10 games this season where we’ve scored at least 45 points by halftime,” Hood said.

Brandywine’s head coach was able to empty his bench throughout the second half giving his younger players valuable varsity minutes.

A total of 10 different players got into the scoring column for Brandywine. Drotoz led the way with 12 points, while Knapp finished with 10, Young and Paige Krisher added nine apiece, Kadence Brumitt had eight and Lily Gill and Prenkert added six points each for the Lady Bobcats.

Brandywine shot 24-of-50 (48 percent) from the floor and 6-of-8 (75 percent) at the foul stripe.

“It’s amazing being a part of this team. I just love playing with this group of girls. We’ve been playing together for a very long time. Just being a part of this group is great because we have such great chemistry and we all work together very well. This is a team that is going to go far. We work hard in practice because Coach Hood scouts our opponents so well and we have everything figured out,” Young said.

Constantine, which finishes 6-19 this season, was led by Bella Cullifer and Jaedyn Herlein with six points each.

The Lady Falcons made 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) field-goal attempts and shot just 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) fron the foul stripe.

Brandywine won the rebounding battle 26-14. Brumitt grabbed five rebounds for the Bobcats, while Young and Adeline Gill hauled down four each.

Constantine was paced in rebounding by Cullifer with five.

“This team will be happy about what happened tonight, but when practice for regionals begins on Saturday they will be focused. This group won’t be content on just winning a district. This team has their sights set on the big prize. We’ll get ready and go represent Brandywine at that regional with class,” Hood said.

“The schedule that our great athletic director [Dave Sidenbender] built for us this season has challenged us mentally and physically and that’s what our practices do as well. We call our practices organized chaos because they are a war.”

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