College Heights girls and boys basketball came back from the holiday break on a high note, sweeping a pair of games against Bronaugh on Monday at Ozark Christian College.
The CHC girls took control early and held off Bronaugh down the stretch for a 49-41 win before the Cougar boys established dominance over the Wildcats early and cruised to a 63-19 victory to complete the sweep in the nightcap.
COLLEGE HEIGHTS GIRLS BUILD EARLY LEAD AND HOLD OFF BRONAUGH
Bronaugh scored the first two baskets of the game, but that would be the only time the Wildcats would hold a lead as College Heights responded to take the advantage quickly and never relinquished it in the win.
“We certainly had some rust to shake off,” CHC coach John Blankenship said after the win. “We didn’t shoot very well tonight, but I suppose that is to be expected after a two-week layoff. Our defense was good tonight for the most part. … For our first game back, I thought we did well.”
The Cougars (4-3) finished with three players in double-figure scoring, led by Addie Lawrence’s 16 points, nine of which came in the first half. Jayli Johnson added 13 points, while Libby Fanning finished with 10 points in the win.
Nicole Hagerman had a game-high 24 points to lead Bronaugh, while Gabby Cox finished with eight in the loss.
Hagerman and Cox scored the first two baskets of the game to give Bronaugh a 4-0 lead.
Johnson got the Cougars on the board with a 3-pointer from the corner before Lauren Ukena scored on the break to give CHC it’s first lead of the game, 5-4, with 6:16 left in the opening period.
Hagerman grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback score later in the quarter to tie the game at 6s, but CHC closed the period with a fast-break score from Ukena and a 3-ball just before the buzzer from Lawrence to push the lead to 11-6.
After scoring the final five points of the first quarter, College Heights scored the first eight points of the second period to build a double-digit advantage.
“We are a young team, so it is always good to establish the lead early in the game,” Blankenship said. “When our defense picks up and we can get in our transition game, we are a much different team.”
Lawrence kicked off the run with a layup on the break, with Molly Long adding an offensive rebound for a putback. Johnson and Maddy Colin each added two makes at the charity stripe.
The Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run of their own to trim the lead back down to five, 19-14, before the Cougars scored the last two buckets of the first half to go into the intermission on top 23-14.
College Heights’ lead meandered around the 10-point mark for the early portions of the third period before Bronaugh cut the lead to 29-24 thanks to buckets from Hagerman and Gretchen Banes with less than three minutes to play. The Cougars sank five unanswered free throws to close the third quarter with a 34-24 advantage.
Bronaugh refused to go away quietly, trimming the deficit to as low as five points several times, including a turnaround jumper from Hagerman with 3:50 left to make the score 42-37.
Much like the previous three quarters, each time the Wildcats made a run, CHC had an answer. This time, College Heights scored five straight to push the lead back to 10, with Johnson earning a steal for a fast-break layup to cap the final momentum push with less than two minutes to play.
“We are a young team,” Blankenship said when asked about his team’s ability to keep Bronaugh at bay late. “I have a few juniors but we graduated four key seniors last year, so this group hasn’t seen a ton of playing time. They are still young and developing, so to come out and hold them off under this pressure of not playing for two weeks—I am really proud of them.”
College Heights is at Diamond on Tuesday.
COLLEGE HEIGHTS BOYS CRUISE PAST BRONAUGH
It didn’t take very long for the College Heights boys to establish an insurmountable lead in the welcome-back-from-break win over Bronaugh.
The Cougars (7-2) used a stingy defense and quick-scoring offense in transition to build a double-digit lead by the end of the first period before extending the cushion to 34-8 by the intermission. College Heights put the game away in the third period and forced a running clock to start the fourth quarter.
“We had some good intensity tonight,” CHC coach Eric Johnson said. “Unfortunately, we made a few silly turnovers because we got careless with the ball at times. It was just impatience. We were anxious to get back playing and we were in a hurry. I felt like we controlled the game well and we got all 10 guys some action.”
College Heights showed a strong effort on the defensive end early, limiting the Wildcats to just two field goals over the first eight minutes of action while building an 18-6 lead.
Offensively, CHC started the game on a 10-3 run with baskets inside from Ethan Meeks and Curtis Davenport before a 3-pointer from Miller Long closed the run. Meeks added a basket inside with 18 seconds left to give CHC it’s first 10-point cushion of the game, 16-6, before Bo Sitton closed the period with a layup on the break off a Wildcats turnover to push the lead to 12.
The lead ballooned to more than 20 early in the second period thanks to a 12-0 run from CHC to start the quarter. Long highlighted the run with eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Meeks and Davenport added buckets inside.
“We got some on the defensive end and other turnovers that allowed us to get the ball out (in transition),” Johnson said. “Miller hit a couple 3s, too, to open things up, which also opens up the inside for the rest of the offense.”
College Heights ultimately limited Bronaugh to three field goals in the first half, one in the second period.
“We stress that we have to come out and play defense,” Johnson said. “The offense may not be there every night, but you can always play defense. Limit the number of touches every team gets and make every shot a contested one. It’s just little things like that that will win you games.”
The Cougars pushed the lead to 30 for the first time early in the second half on an inside score from Davenport and an alley-oop layup by Hagen Beck, with Long getting the assist, to make the score 38-8 at the seven-minute mark.
The lead reached as high as 46 points in the third quarter, igniting a running clock in the final eight minutes of play.
Meeks and Long each led College Heights in scoring with a game-high 18 points. Davenport added nine points in the win. The Cougars had eight players reach the scorebook in the win.
Tanner Wait led Bronaugh with six points, while Gavin Cox had five.
College Heights is at Diamond tomorrow.
