NILES — It took nearly a half, but the Brandywine girls basketball team recovered from its first loss of the season.

The Bobcats were defeated by defending BCS Athletic Conference champion 51-38 last week and appeared to be recovering from that setback during the first two quarters of their non-conference game against Fennville Tuesday night.

Despite a 20-9 first quarter lead, Brandywine coach Josh Hood was not happy with the way his team was playing, especially at the defensive end.

“I was probably not real nice at halftime,” Hood said. “We like to play fast and get after it, but our defensive effort was not where it needs to be. I would have probably been a little lighter on them if we did not have as much experience. But for that effort I was really disappointed.”

The second half saw a better defensive effort by the Bobcats, which turned into a 72-36 victory.

The main focus of the Brandywine defense was Fennville guard C Howard, who finished with a game-high 18 points.

Hood felt his team made Howard work for her points, especially in the second half, which saw the Bobcats limit the Blackhawks to just 10 points.

Brandywine gave up 16 points in the second quarter and then nine the remaining of the second half.

Nicole Sacman scored a team-high 16 points to lead the Bobcats, who also go 14 points from Zikayyah Abdullah. 

Brandywine (4-1) was deadly from beyond the 3-point line.

The Bobcats connected on 12 triples, led by Madison Bailey with three. Zakiyyah and Malikiyyah Abdullah, along with Megan Schmidt, each finished with a pair.

Boys basketball

The undefeated Brandywine boys basketball team proved to be no match for the Bobcats Tuesday night.

The Bobcats outscored the Blackhawk 17-3 and never looked back.

Brandywine held a 17-point lead at the break (27-1) and then outscored Fennville 29-18 in the second half.

Both teams struggled the basket in the second half, but the Bobcats found a way to keep Fennville at bay to improve to 6-0 on the year heading into Friday night’s showdown with arch rival Buchanan.

Brandywine led 41-18 after three and cruised home with the 28-point victory.

Jordan Abrams led the way with a game-high 16 points, while Derrick Miller added 10 points and Jaden Croom nine.

Like the girls team, Brandywine was hot from 3-point land.

The Bobcats finished with eight triples. Miller and Abrams had a trio of 3-pointers each.