RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
The Homestead Spartans, #2 in the latest 4A girls’ basketball poll, invaded the Teepee Friday night and showed why they are so highly regarded, giving the Bellmont Braves their first loss of the season, 63-40.
But unlike in last year’s 45-point loss at Homestead, the Braves let the Spartans know they were in for a fight.
Mary Bleke burned the nets for 12 first quarter points to lead the Braves (6-1) to a 17-15 lead at the first buzzer. She hit four-of-five two-pointers, a three-pointer from just right of the top of the key, and a free throw to dominate the period.
Homestead (6-1) opened the second quarter with a drive by Myah Epps and a putback from 6-1 sophomore Suzy Perego to take a 19-17 lead, but Ashley Bleke countered with a drive from the left side to tie it. After the Spartans’ Carly Moellering drove all the way from the top of the key to the hoop for a layup and a 21-19 Spartan lead, Oni Krueckeberg nailed a three from the right wing to put the Braves up again at the 4:33 mark, 22-21.
Unfortunately, that was the last lead of the night for Bellmont. The Spartans immediately went on a 12-0 tear—eight of the points coming from 5-11 senior Gabby Helsom—to take a 33-22 advantage with 1:16 to go. Ashley Bleke’s three from the top of the key cut the lead to 33-25 with a minute left, and it stayed that way until the end of the half.
In the third quarter, Moellering’s opening three and a bucket on the right block by Epps, sandwiched around a short jumper by Ashley Bleke, made it 38-27.
But Ashley Bleke hit a three at the 4:32 mark, and once again the Braves were within eight halfway through the third period. Though Homestead outscored the Braves 7-3 the rest of the quarter, the Braves still found themselves down by only 12 to one of the state’s best teams heading into the final quarter.
Then Homestead’s depth and smothering man-to-man defense wore down the Braves, and the Spartans controlled the fourth period by an 18-7 count. Helsom, who led all scorers with 22 points, set the tone with a pair of threes and a bucket on an out-of-bounds play in the first three minutes of the quarter.
“They can post up Helsom. They can have Heslom shoot threes,” noted Bellmont coach Andy Heim. “She’s a real matchup problem.”
“I thought the first half we played really well,” he said. “And you know, honestly, in the second half we didn’t necessarily play bad. I thought we gave up a few buckets in transition because we didn’t get back, and that’s typically not the way we play. We never necessarily had a chance to tie it back up in that second half, but it could have ballooned out much earlier than what it did, and I thought we stayed playing strong. Overall, I thought that was a pretty good effort.”
Heim conceded that the active, athletic Homestead defense caused his team problems. “I thought they locked us down a little bit more on defense, and we sort of panicked on some of our shots and altered those a little bit,” he said. “They move their feet really well. In that switching defense, they can switch anybody on anybody and feel like they can be successful.”
Homestead’s three best athletes—Epps, Helsom, and Perego—range from 5-10 to 6-1, and all three are strong and quick. They made it tough for the Braves to score inside, although 6-0 sophomore center Mary Bleke battled her way to 15 points, second on the team to the 18 of her sister, Ashely. They carried the offense, the rest of the team managing only seven points (Krueckeberg three, Kate Kitson two, Lanie French and Kaitlyn Barton one each).
Epps scored 12 for Homestead. Moellering added nine, Perego eight.
Homestead easily won the JV game, 64-21. Ava Billman led the Braves with nine points. Katelyn Borne had eight. Kenna Taylor led the Spartans with 27.
Bellmont opens NE8 play next Friday, December 5, by hosting Dekalb.
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