Brimfield, Princeville advance
By VICTOR LAMPE
Weekly Post Staff Writer
Regional joy turned to sectional frustration for the Brimfield and Princeville girls basketball teams on Tuesday.
First the good news. Both fifth-ranked Princeville (30-4) and Brimfield won Class 1A regional championships last week.
The Lady Princes defeated Stark County last Friday, 47-25, to win the ROWVA Regional. That was Princeville’s third regional in the past four seasons.
Brimfield went to double overtime to earn its fifth straight IHSA plaque, topping Annawan, 53-31, for the West Central title.
But things were much tougher on Tuesday at the Havana Sectional.
In the first game, Princeville lost to top-ranked Lewistown, 56-48, after rallying to tie the game 45-45 on a basket by Brinlee Bauman (12 points) with 3:18 remaining. That was as close as Princeville could come, though, as turnovers hurt the Lady Prices and Lewistown hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final quarter.
“We’re better ballhandlers than that. If we’d taken a little better care of the ball I think the outcome might have been different,” Princeville Coach John Gross said. “We had three times as many turnovers as we usually do. And a lot of that is them, too. Give them credit.
“If we’d have taken care of the ball better I think we’d have won the game.”
Ashleigh Brawley also had 12 points for Princeville and Emma Lane added 10. Anna Heffren had 22 points for Lewistown, which finished third in Class 1A last season.
In the second game, Brimfield lost to Illini Bluffs, 57-30, after having dropped a Feb. 6 regular season matchup, 59-47.
Coach Maribeth Dura had hoped for a better start from her Lady Indians against IB, but that did not materialize. Brimfield trailed 10-6 after one quarter and then went down 26-11 at halftime and never recovered.
“They came out like they’ve come out the last few games. Not really going out and playing hard. Not focused. I think we could have done a lot better,” Dura said. “IB outhustled us, which is unfortunate, because that doesn’t happen too often to us.”
Haley Wallace had nine points to lead Brimfield and Ella Lune added 8, while Hanna Hicks had 16 for IB.
Here’s a regional recap.
Princeville Princeville’s third meeting with Stark County last Friday started tight but did not end that way. “
“It was a close game in the first half, but we played better in the second half,” Gross said.
Morissa Martin and Caitlyn Thole led Princeville with 12 points apiece. The result marked Princeville’s 22nd straight win.
In the semifinals, the Lady Princes routed ROWVA, 67-27.
“After not playing for roughly a week, it was what I wanted to see,” Gross said, “We got ahead early and we didn’t let up.”
Thole led the Lady Princes with 17 points followed closely behind by Bauman with 16, Martin with 12 and Brawley with 10.
Destinee Harwood of Princeville was a 3-point advancer.
Brimfield
The Lady Indians were in control until late in the fourth quarter against Annawan, which rallied and then took a lead in the first overtime. With a minute and a half remaining, Brimfield was down until Wallace completed a four-point play on a three and a shooting foul.
Brimfield then control in the second overtime.
“We had a couple players who did a good job stepping up,” Dura said.
Wallace led Brimfield with 18 points followed by Elynn Peterson and Lune with 11 apiece.
Brimfield had opened regionals with a 72-50 win over Ridgewood.
Farmington
Farmington was defeated by Normal U-High last Wednesday, 51-32. “We got a lot of good looks, we just didn’t shoot well,” Coach Bradley Whitcomb said, “They were a well balanced team and their shooters hurt us a lot.”
Reese Putrich led Farmington with 12 points.
“Looking back on this season I see that we have grown a lot individually and as a team,” Coach Whitcomb said.
