RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
A three-point bombardment by the second-ranked Homestead Spartans spelled trouble for the Bellmont Braves in a battle of unbeaten teams Friday night at Homestead.
The Spartans (7-0) hit 13-of-26 three-point attempts, including 7-of-11 in the first half, to spark a convincing 67-32 win. Junior sharpshooter Gabby Helsom led the Spartan long-range brigade, making eight of her 11 three-point shots on her way to a game-high 28 points, almost single-handedly matching the Braves’ output.
At 5-11, Helsom could shoot almost at will from the perimeter over the smaller Bellmont guards. “We knew that would be a trouble,” Bellmont coach Andy Heim said. “That’s tough to stop. I don’t know if any of the threes that she made hit rim; I think they were all just the bottom of the net. It was impressive.”
And she wasn’t the Spartans’ only three-point weapon. Whitney Ankenbruck sank three triples in the first half, and Myah Epps added a pair.
Epps did even more damage on the inside, driving repeatedly on both sides of the lane for the rest of her 18 points. “I had never seen Epps play like that, at least in the games that I saw,” said Heim. “I knew that she was the floor general for them, but I didn’t think she would score inside on us like that.”
Epps started the scoring just over 30 seconds into the game with a drive on the right side, and Ankenbruck struck for three about a minute later to stake the Spartans to a 5-0 lead. Helsom followed with a three-pointer on Homestead’s next possession, and the Braves were quickly on their heels, down 8-0.
Emily Bleke was fouled on a drive and hit both free throws to get the Braves (6-1) on the scoreboard, but Helsom countered with a layup to make it 10-2.
Kate Kitson’s drive at the 4:05 mark launched an 8-7 Bellmont advantage in the rest of the period, the Braves’ best stretch of play for the night, to cut the lead to seven at 17-10.
Epps had a lot to do with smothering the Braves’ attempt to continue their momentum in the second quarter. She scored nine points to spearhead a 20-9 Homestead edge that increased the lead to 37-19 at the half.
Emily Bleke’s pair of free throws to start the third quarter made it 37-21, but the Spartans responded with an 11-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to post an insurmountable 48-21 lead. Nine of those 11 points came from a trio of three-pointers from—no surprise—Helsom.
Buckets by Emily Bleke, Kaitlyn Barton, and Ashley Bleke helped Bellmont play even with Homestead the rest of the quarter, but the Spartans still had doubled up the Braves at 54-27 heading into the final period. Homestead won that quarter too, 13-5.
The score was lopsided, but the young Braves, starting two freshman and a sophomore, never panicked or stopped battling, though Heim had hoped to see more assertiveness from his team. “That was a little bit of a disappointing part, where I thought we could attack and we just sort of did not,” Heim said. “I understand they’re aggressive, but we still need to attack the way we’re used to attacking and be confident.”
“This is a good test for us,” added Heim, “to sort of see what we need to improve on and hopefully work on that as we get ready for conference.”
The Spartans were hot from all over, making 13-of-25 two-pointers (52%) and both of their free throws. The Braves hit 9-of-20 twos (45%), 3-of-17 threes (18%), and 5-of-6 free throws (83%).
Emily Bleke led the Braves with 14 points. Ashley Bleke had seven, Kitson five, Barton four, and Lanie French two.
Ankenbruck was the third Spartan in double figures, with 13.
The Braves, who rose to the #8 ranking in 3A this week, will travel to Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian Monday before opening NE8 play at Dekalb next Saturday. The NE8 has three other teams ranked in 3A: #5 Columbia City, #9 Norwell, and #15 East Noble.
