RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
LOGANSPORT – The Bellmont Braves’ girls’ basketball team made history Saturday morning in the Logansport 3A Basketball Semistate with a gritty 57-46 win over Culver Academies to move on to the 8:00 P.M. championship game and a chance to advance to the state finals.
The win was the first ever in a semistate for the Bellmont girls’ program.
Though the Braves jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes, held an 18-8 advantage at the end of the first quarter, and led by as much as 18 points in the middle of the third quarter, things did get a little tense in the final period.
That’s when the Eagles, undaunted by a 45-30 deficit, went on a pair of mini-runs to eventually make it a two-possession game.
A 7-1 start in the fourth for the Eagles, sparked by a Piper Brumm’s three-point play, got it to single digits at 46-37. Ashley Bleke hit a drive on the right side to restore the Braves’ double-digit lead, but Culver responded with a 9-4 run, capped by Brumm’s three-pointer from deep on the left wing, making it 52-46 with 1:33 to go.
But the Eagles were forced to foul, and the Braves hit five of eight free throws—one of two for Kate Kitson, Kaitlyn Barton, and Oni Krueckeberg, and two of two for Lanie French— in the final 1:14 while holding the Eagles scoreless the rest of the way to produce the final 11-point margin.
The Braves’ hot start proved to be a huge key in the win, head coach Andy Heim concluded. “Got a good start,” he said. “We 100% got a good start. Look, that’s one of the most important things. We haven’t played at 10 ever. We haven’t had a bus ride for an hour and forty to play at 10 a.m. You know, we’ve had some of those games where it’s a noon start, but that’s not the same thing. So for us to get out quick showed that we were ready, showed that we were prepared, showed that we had a little bit of grit in us.”
Oni Krueckeberg, who led the Braves with 16 points, had a lot to do with that great start. She opened the scoring with a three-point swish from the left corner and followed that with a falling-down drive on the right side to give the Braves a 5-0 lead. Mary Bleke hit two free throws to make it 7-0.
Freshman Culver Academies star Laine Lyles Euro-stepped her way to a layup, but Mary Bleke replied with an old-fashioned three-point play, putting the Braves up, 10-2. Krueckeberg hit another drive, and Kitson and French added two free throws each to help Bellmont to that 18-8 first-quarter lead.
The teams deadlocked at 10-10 in the second period, and the Braves took a 28-18 lead into the locker room.
Four-of-six three-point shooting helped the Braves win the third quarter by a 17-12 count, French hitting two from deep, Krueckeberg and Ashley Bleke each making one.
One factor in the Braves’ favor was that Lyles struggled with foul trouble, picking up her second foul in the first quarter and having to spend some time on the bench. She eventually fouled out with 2:33 left in the game.
Ashley Bleke scored 12 for the Braves. French and Mary Bleke added 10 each. Barton had four, Kitson three, and Hadley Caffee two.
Lyles led Culver Academies with eleven. Brumm had ten, while Mimi Smith had nine.
The Braves will take on Connersville, 50-36 winners over Fairfield in the second game, in the semistate final.
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