By BRAD BAUGHMAN, for The Democrat
With two hard-fought weekend wins, the Brown County girls basketball team clinched the top spot in the Western Indiana Conference East Division and will play for the conference championship on Friday, Jan. 24 at home.
In Friday night’s thriller, the Eagles and the Edgewood Mustangs battled for four quarters before the buzzer sounded with the score tied at 38.
Firing on all cylinders, five different Eagles scored 12 points in the four-minute overtime period, and Brown County emerged with a 50-43 victory.
Brown County junior guard Anna Fleetwood knocked down two timely three-pointers, one in the fourth quarter and one in overtime, to help secure the win.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“It was really nice to see the girls kind of relax and just play ball in overtime. We took control right away and gave ourselves a nice, comfortable finish,” said Eagles coach Matt Roberts.
Free throw shooting certainly factored heavily in the contest. The Eagles converted 10 of 12, while the Mustangs were able to connect on only nine of 25. Eagles senior guard Allison Stogsdill was 6-6 from the line and is an impressive 23-26 from the stripe in her last four games.
Chelbie Anderson scored 16, including four three-pointers, to lead the Mustangs. Brown County got 15 from Stogsdill and 14 from senior forward Aubrey Hollander.
The overtime win against a quality opponent could pay huge dividends for the Eagles in the future. “It’s always good to get one like that, a good experience for down the road, too,” Roberts said.
The overtime victory celebration was short-lived, as the Eagles hosted another tough WIC foe, the Indian Creek Braves, on Saturday and prevailed 62-47.
Behind Gracie Matlock’s nine points, the Eagles sprinted out to a 19-8 first quarter lead. “Gracie was a really big spark for us,” Roberts said of his senior forward.
Although Brown County dealt with foul trouble in quarter two, the Eagles managed to build on their lead and went to the locker room at halftime up by 15, 32-17.
“The first half we really played well on both ends of the floor. The defense was solid and we shot the ball well,” Roberts said.
The Braves went on an 8-0 run to start the third quarter and cut the Eagle lead to seven. While it took Brown County over three minutes to get on the board, the Eagles managed to fend off the Indian Creek spurt, scored 15 points in the period, and held a 13-point lead heading into the final quarter.
The teams traded buckets in the final period, and Indian Creek never really threatened.
The Braves did hold Brown County’s leading scorer, Stogsdill, to eight points — half her average. Four other Eagles hit the double-digit scoring mark, though, led by freshman point guard Abby Fleetwood’s 15.
Anna Fleetwood had 13, while Matlock chipped in with 11, and Aubrey Hollander contributed 10. Hollander drew praise from her coach who said, “Aubrey was huge on both ends of the floor.”
“Probably the only game this year where we had four in double figures, and one of them wasn’t Allison,” Roberts said.
“You never know who’s going to be the main scorer. That’s a great feeling. It makes everybody relax,” Hollander said about the Eagles’ balanced attack.
Roberts called the Indian Creek victory “a good solid win, beginning to end.”
About the win, Hollander said, “I think we were just riding the wave from last night.”
Roberts is glad to put this weekend behind him and ecstatic with the outcome. These were two games he had given much thought to while considering the schedule. “Without a doubt, you have to circle this weekend, Edgewood (and) Indian Creek back to back.”
For the weekend, the Eagles shot 78 percent from the free throw line, going 18-23, many of those coming in pressure situations.
Roberts can now put a huge X through that circle on his schedule and focus on what lies ahead for his Eagle squad. With an active defense, balanced scoring, superior free throw shooting, and the confidence gained from two hotly contested, pressure-filled wins, the Eagles have earned the right to be excited about the future.
The Eagles have two tough road contests starting with Trinity Lutheran on Friday, Jan. 17 and then Whiteland on Saturday, Jan. 18.
