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Bradford
senior Kelly Moore battles MV junior Kelsie Hunt for a rebound
Thursday at Bradford. The Lady Roaders won the Cross County
Conference
battle, 52-31. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Bradford defense too much for Lady Hawks
By George Starks
BRADFORD - When the Bradford Lady Railroaders took the floor Thursday
against Cross County Conference foe Mississinawa Valley, head coach
Patrick McKee was treated to something all coaches would welcome.
A near perfect game.
Bradford put together four solid quarters of basketball and was able to
hit on all cylinders, especially early, dropping a 52-31 loss on the
Blackhawks.
Early defense was the key for the Roaders.
In fact, it was defense that was key for the first half as Bradford
didn’t allow a MV field goal in the opening 16 minutes of play.
Going into the break, McKee was more than pleased with his team,
holding a 27-6 lead with all points for the Hawks coming from the free
throw line.
“We told the kids at halftime that we gave up zero field goals in the
first half,” said a very happy McKee. “We’ve been focusing a lot on
defense lately. We’re not the best shooting team, and everybody knows
that. It takes heart to play defense the way it’s supposed to be done,
and we did that tonight. We had energy. We had energy before the
game and that’s something we’ve been missing all year.”
Bradford started out on a 7-0 run and boosted that lead to 13-0 before
the Hawks could muster two points from the line by freshman Sidnie Hunt
at the 2:07 mark of the opening quarter.
Going into the break, McKee saw something else he’d not seen this year,
holding a 21 point lead.
“This is the most fired up I’ve seen these kids this year,” admitted
McKee. “That kind of energy really helped us throughout the night.”
Led by senior Mackenzie Weldy with 14 points and junior Mandi Bates
with a dozen, it was the offensive spark of sophomore Chelsea Gill that
made a huge difference.
Gill pumped in a season high 13 points for the Roaders in the win.
“I tell the girls all the time that everyone knows that Bradford has
Mackenzie Weldy and Mandi Bates,” McKee exclaimed. “We tell everyone
else that they all have to do their roll. I tell the girls that I’m not
asking everyone to go out and score 15 to 20 a night, but we’ve got to
have other scoring besides just those two. Chelsea Gill played a great
game. If that kid was five or six inches taller (Only 5’0”), she would
be a phenomenal basketball player. She has more heart than I’ve ever
met in a kid.”
Even kids like sophomore Hannah Fout that brought the house down.
Fout went to the line late in the game for a two shot opportunity.
Hitting the first, she missed the second attempt but followed her shot,
got the board and scored the deuce.
Pure hustle on the part of Fout, finishing with five points in limited
playing time.
For the Hawks, it was junior Kelsie Hunt that got the job done on
offense.
Hunt scored 18 of the Hawks 31 points, but had no support.
With the first field goal coming at the 5:31 mark of the third frame by
Hunt, it was rough for Hershey to watch.
“It didn’t go well for us tonight,” said John Hershey, the Hawks coach.
“We were a little slow to start. We never had a goal in the first half,
and I told the girls they had to just keep shooting and shoot their way
out of this. Kelsie stepped up tonight and did a real nice job for us.
She works hard, but we couldn’t put the ball in the hole tonight and it
affected us all the way around.”
Additional photos to be posted soon at Empowering Darke County Youth
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Kelsie
Hunt was the lone bright spot for head coach John Hershey and
Mississinawa Valley. Hunt netted 18 of the Lady Blackhawks 31 points.
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