New year, new team?
Maybe the players didn’t change, but after an 0-8 start to the season, Bradford High (1-8, 1-0 D9 League) opened 2017 with its first win, a 49-39 victory over visiting St. Marys (6-3, 1-1 D9 League) on Tuesday.
“Overall, I thought the girls played extremely hard,” Lady Owls head coach Bob Hannon said of the victory, which was the D9 League opener for Bradford. “Yeah, we’re 1-8, but we’re 1-0 in the league and that’s what’s most important to us, so hopefully we can keep moving forward.”
After two close games in last week’s IAABO Holiday Tournament turned into losses, being able to finally notch a mark in the win column is important for the young Bradford team moving forward.
“It feels tremendous,” Hannon said. “The excitement that the girls had, it’s refreshing to see them have that and have a chance to experience a win like that. I thought they fought hard.
Bradford again rode the play of senior guard Bri Wells. She scored a game-high 26 points – including going 8-for-12 at the foul line – and made nine field goals, many of which came on fast-break layups generated by steals from the team’s zone defense.
The Lady Owls went on a 17-4 run to turn a 30-28 deficit with a minute remaining in the third quarter to a 45-34 lead with a minute left in the game. Instead of giving away leads like the two losses last week, Bradford continued pushing the issue until the final horn sounded.
“We haven’t been in a game where it’s been the end of a game and we’re winning the game to know how to handle that kind of thing,” Hannon said. “Bri is the only one who has varsity experience. That comes with time. The younger kids are going to have to learn that and be able to step out and take care of the ball a little better.”
Hannon’s team was 11-for-16 from the foul line, but 7-for-8 in the fourth quarter as the Lady Dutch put Bradford in the double bonus.
“I liked the way we finished in the terms of we hit some big free throws,” Hannon said.
A pair of juniors – Brinya Moffett and Taylor Smith – came up with important plays during crunch time that provided sparks to the offense. Moffett came up with big rebounds and a late put-back off a Smith free throw to score nine points.
Smith finished with only two baskets, but her jumper tied the game at 30. A possession later, she made a move in the open court and found freshman Emily Warner for a 15-footer. Moffett sunk two free throws with 5.4 seconds left in the third quarter to go up for good at 34-32.
Points were hard to come by in the halfcourt for both sides, with Bradford playing a zone defense and St. Marys coming out in a triangle-and-two to try and eliminate Wells from the offensive flow of the game. With Wells at the top of the zone and Smith and freshman Erica Marshall on the wings, the Lady Dutch were pressured into making dangerous passes.
When those passes weren’t completed, Wells broke out for outlet passes and her teammates found her wide open for uncontested layup after layup. That ability to get out in transition is a key to Bradford’s scoring.
“We need to be able to get in that halfcourt, get a few steals here and there and then get the ball up the floor and get some easy looks at it,” Hannon said. “We were tonight.”
Hannon also pointed to senior Brandi Mealy, who came off the bench to provide valuable minutes on both ends of the floor. Playing in the back of the Lady Owl zone, Mealy came up with rebounds and ran the floor for a fast-break layup in the fourth for her only two points.
“I thought Brandi Mealy played excellent for us on that back line,” Hanon said. “She didn’t do much as far as points go, but she had one huge bucket down at the other end for us. She had some really big rebounds. She talks on that back line, so she really gave us a big lift on the back line.”
St. Marys fell behind early, 12-4, but battled back with eight straight points to tie it at 12 to end the first quarter. The Lady Dutch, on Rachelle Armanini’s eight points and Bekka Bauer’s seven, headed into the locker room with a 22-20 lead.
The Lady Dutch scored just seven points in the fourth quarter as Bradford’s defense tightened up. Armanini scored 15 to lead the Lady Dutch.
Bradford hosts Coudersport for a Saturday evening (7 p.m.) showdown, while St. Mary has a week off before facing DuBois on Tuesday.
