DUKE CENTER — As early season basketball goes, Tuesday night’s game between Otto-Eldred and Bradford girls had just about everything you wanted as the Lady Terrors defeated Bradford 45-44 behind a solid 23-point, 11-rebound effort by Camryn Thomas.
Junior Bri Wells supplied the offense for the Lady Owls (0-3), scoring 18 points. Erica Marshall added 14 points of her own.
The first quarter of the game was typical of the early season with both teams struggling offensively and committing multiple turnovers as O-E held a 10-6 lead after eight minutes.
The Lady Owls rallied to take a 15-12 lead with 4:19 left in the half.
However, the hosts outscored Bradford 10-4 to grab a 22-19 lead at the half as Thomas contributed key baskets at the end of the second quarter.
“We didn’t do a good job of rebounding in that half,“ lamented Bradford head coach Bob Hannon. “We had some mental breakdowns and they capitalized on them.”
Bradford outscored the Lady Terrors 14-9 in the third quarter to take a 33-31 lead.
Bradford built the lead to 41-36 with 5:30 left in the game only to have the Lady Terrors storm back to trail 41-39 with 5:02 left.
Thomas then hit the second of two free throws to cut the lead to one. Her put-back of an offensive rebound gave the Lady Terrors a 42-41 edge.
After both teams traded possessions, Thomas again tipped in a basket to put Otto up 44-41. Ali Cousins added a free throw for a 45-41 lead with 41 seconds left. Wells then hit an uncontested layup to make it 45-43.
Tiffany Bair fouled Wells with eight seconds left. Wells hit the first but missed the second to give the Lady Terrors their second win of the season against one defeat.
“We played with discipline tonight,” O-E coach Barb Close said. “We know Wells was going to score her points. We just wanted to contain her and I think we did.”
“Thomas had a great night tonight and Emily Smith helped on the boards with 11 rebounds.”
Added Hannon, “We are improving every game and we had some help from our freshmen tonight.”
O-E will host Oswayo Valley on Friday in the Lady Terrors’ tourney.
Bradford will host Cameron County on Thursday.
Bradford (44)
Wells 7 3-4 18, T. Smith 2 0-0 4, Mealy 1 0-1 2, Luther 1 0-0 2, Mealey 2 0-0 4, Marshall 6 0-0 14, Totals 19 3-5 44
Otto-Eldred (45)
Cousins 2 2-5 6, Shelander 2 0-0 5, Bair 1 2-2 4, A. Smith 1 0-0 2, Greeley 0 0-2 0, Thomas 9 4-8 23, E. Smith 1 3-6 5, Totals 16 11-23 45
Bradford 6 19 33 44
Otto-Eldred 10 22 31 45
3-point field goals: Bradford 3 (Marshall 2, Wells), Otto-Eldred 2 (Shelander, Thomas)
Fouled out: none
JV Score: Bradford 42-36
