The Braham girls basketball team traveled to Pine City on Thursday night!
Both teams came in with a lot on the line in this game. A win kept Braham's hopes alive for a share at the Great River Conference crown, a win for Pine City meant they'd host the conference championship against Ogilvie. Both sides came into the game with formidable defenses, but also had shown their ability to score a plethora of points throughout the season. The first half proved this game was going to be a battle of whose defense could make more plays. Pine City took the early lead but Braham was never far behind even taking the lead a few times. As they teams neared the half, it was the Dragons defense who seemed to be making more stops. They would take a 25-15 lead with under 3 minutes to go and it seemed like they were about to pull away. But as the great Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast!" In the last 2 minutes the Bombers turned everything in their favor and went on an 11-0 scoring run to end the 1st half with a 26-25 lead. The Bomber defense forced plenty turnovers to help them with their run.
At the start of the 2nd half Braham looked to carry their momentum from the 1st and hold onto their lead, while the Dragons were hoping the quick swing of said momentum didn't snowball. The Bombers held onto their slim lead for only a few minutes, as the Dragons took back the lead. The good news for Braham it was only a one point lead at the time. But this slim lead was all the Dragons needed to spark their offense. They moved the ball around well and shot even better, they also shot 11-14 from the free throw line in the 2nd half! Their defense continued to make plays holding Braham to only 8 points in the final 13 and a half minutes of the game! Pine City would pull away and come out victorious 59-40.
For Pine City they waited a week to get back to action but paid it off with a win to improve to 13-5. They've got a busy week ahead, tonight in Pierz(Feb. 2nd), Monday vs Barnum(Feb. 5th), Tuesday vs Hermantown(Feb. 6th), and Friday the Great River Conference Championship vs Ogilvie!
For Braham it's a tough loss that has them at 16-4, but also no shot at the conference crown. But still plenty to accomplish on the season, they still have a chance at the #1 seed in section playoffs. Their next two game next week are against conference opponents, but then Friday a matchup up north against one of, if not the best team in MN Mountain Iron-Buhl!
Scoring:
Braham
Madison Davis 11
Olivia Heikes 9
Arin Zimpel 7
Nickole Duvernay 6
Morgan Rysdam 4
Alex Rysdam 3
Pine City
Karly Jusczak 25
Summer Thieman 16
Mallory Clepper 10
Vivian Lahti 5
Brooke Boland 3
