Lady Dragons Battle Bombers in Conference Matchup

Pine City traveled to Braham on Monday night.

What a game to open up the new week, two teams who are extremely talented and have only grown and gotten better since their last meeting.

The action on the court lived up to all the hype.

Right from the tipoff you could tell this was going to be a battle. Both defenses did a great job to close off any open looks. But the offenses also had success, both teams were patient and waited for lanes to open up or simply for open looks to shoot the ball. The game was close, neither team could grab a lead more than three points. Even when one team hit a big shot and seemed to grab momentum, the other team would come back with a big bucket of their own and even up momentum again. At the half Braham held a five point lead 32-27.

We've seen the Bombers come out in the 2nd half and completely dominate and make it a lopsided game only minutes into the new half. But the Dragons were not about to let that happen. Once again both defenses played well and the 2nd half was more of a defensive battle than the 1st. Each side tightened up and the offenses had to try and hit a bucket from the tightest of windows or drive hard to the basket. Foul wise the 1st half was clean, but the 2nd half saw the chippiness come out, as expected in a conference rivalry. Fouls did pile up a bit for both teams, but both still did well to avoid any serious foul trouble. The Bombers held the lead throughout much of the 2nd half. But with under 3 minutes to go, the Dragons went on a run and close the gap down to three points and now they had all momentum. Braham was on their heels and needed to regroup, which they did with a timeout. And after the timeout they played keep away and drained the clock, while they did hit a few buckets it was very much making sure the Dragons didn't have another opportunity to close the gap. Pine City had their chances but couldn't find the nylon and time slipped away and they fell just short 55-47.

Scoring

Pine City:

Kate Unverzagt and Mallory Clepper 15

Maggie Judd and Reyah Johnson 6

Paige Gray 5

Braham:

Avery Shockman 11

Morgan Rysdam 10

Bridget Golly 8

Emily Davis, Jenna Beck and Lauren Leniz 7

Makenzie Golly 5