By DEAN JACKSON
WZBD.com
FORT WAYNE – Half-full and half-empty. It’s all perspective.
Bellmont coach Andy Heim focused on the positives in the Braves’ 28-25 loss to Concordia Friday night in girls’ basketball.
There was still one bright spot: It’s defense.
“When we give up 28 points, that’s not terrible,” Heim reasoned. “That’s under our season average. That’s pretty good. We could not shoot. We could not score. We had some critical turnovers in spots. We missed some layups in other spots. That is not characteristic of us. Give them credit, and they put pressure on us, and we struggle against teams that pressure us.”
Heim knew coming into Friday’s game that there was going to be a challenge with the style of play of the Cadets.
“Coming in, I was a little bit worried about our trap,” the coach reflected. “They did a nice job of breaking it. I watched some films on them against Adams Central. AC runs a similar-style trap, and that’s exactly what they did to us tonight. We tried to make some adjustments here and there, and they didn’t necessarily work. But you know, honestly, we gave up, what was it, 28? You can’t be too dissatisfied about 28 points. We just couldn’t shoot tonight.”
But even so, his team still had a chance until the final buzzer.
That’s when Alivia Bolinger of the home team got away from traffic, grabbed a pass beyond the right arc in the final three seconds, and connected on a 20-footer to break a tie and give Concordia (6-8) the victory.
“It was a good shot,” Heim noted. “We talked about how we wanted to make sure that they earned it by hitting a shot, not by going to the foul line or getting an easy layup, and she earned the shot.”
Just moments before, Emily Bleke hit a long-range jumper to tie it at 25-25 with 24 seconds to play.
Bellmont looked to pull away, leading 20-15 to start the fourth quarter, after the Braves outscored the Cadets 7-3 in the third quarter. Concordia answered with a 13-5 rally the rest of the way.
Hailey Cole notched nine points to lead Bellmont (9-3). Bolinger finished with eight points, five in the final stanza, including the game-winner.
Heim noted that the Braves only hit 17 percent of their shots and none of their three-point attempts in the first half.
Just seven field goals were converted for the contest—four came in the third and fourth quarters. The Braves finished 9-for-14 at the free-throw line. Concordia connected on 5-of-10 foul shots, while netting 10 from the field, including three three-point shots in the final quarter.
Heim doesn’t think there was a holiday distraction, but there might be something to having a break between games.
“We had a week off. Maybe it’s a bit of a sluggy mentality after finals week, but other than that, I wouldn’t call it a distraction game,” Heim said, “It might have been a bit of a carryover. We’ve had a long break between games.”
For Concordia, it marks their fifth straight win. All have come in the last eight days. Bellmont (9-3) returns to action on December 29th, hosting Eastside.