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Bradford
sophomore Bree Bates goes to the bucket durung action in the
second round of the
OHSAA tournament at Brookville. The Lady Roaders
won the game 45-35 over the Emmanuel
Christian Lady Lions and earned
the right to play the top seed in the sectional, Tri-Village today.
CNO
Photo by Don Selanders, goroaders.com
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Bradford gets
big tourney win
By George Starks
BROOKVILLE- For the first time since 1999, Bradford has earned the
right to move to the next round of sectional basketball play.
Led by senior Chelsey Broughman with 13 points and a dozen from
sophomore Brooke Dunlevy, Bradford eliminated Emmanuel Christian 45-35
Thursday at Brookville.
The difference maker came on the defensive end for the Roaders in the
third quarter.
Bradford led the Lady Lions 17-14 after one but trailed at the break,
26-24.
“We just couldn’t find the bottom of the net in the second quarter,”
Bradford coach Dennis Fair admitted. “We were two of 13 from the floor
in that quarter. All season long, we’ve had a quarter in every game
that has haunted us and tonight was no different. The difference was
that we were able to keep it close enough to keep us in it.”
Then came the Bradford defense that held Emmanuel Christian to just two
third quarter points while putting 12 points up on offense, for a 36-28
advantage with eight minutes left to play.
“We came out at halftime and I basically challenged them in the locker
room,” Fair said. “Our rebounding wasn’t real good in the first half
and we didn’t play great defense in the first half. We weren’t getting
second shots on offense. Basically, we were one and done. I challenged
them to step their defense up and really crash the boards the second
half. They did everything I asked of them. Not only did we hold them to
two points in the third quarter, we held them to just nine points in
the second half.”
When a teams defense does the job, a coach smiles.
“It’s a great feeling to watch your defense do the job,” Fair said. “It
phenomenal knowing your kids can go out there and get it done. They
stepped up to a challenge and took control of the game.”
In the game, sophomore Haley Patty had five assists, giving her a
school record of 82 assists for the season with the old record being 80.
The win puts Bradford in the sectional championship game today with
Tri-Village.
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