Postseason inexperience catches up with Bravettes in 65-51 Sectional loss to Naylor

BLOOMFIELD -- For the better part of their 20-win season, the Scott County Central Bravettes played like a team wise beyond their years despite featuring only a pair of seniors and not much in the way of postseason play.

After an exciting run to the Class 1, District 2 title, however, the Bravettes' inexperience finally caught up with them Tuesday in a 65-51 sectional loss to Naylor.

"We just came out and looked like we were shell-shocked from the get-go," Scott Central head coach Matt Limbaugh said. "Naylor has been in this sectional game for so many years in a row and that experience really payed off. It showed that we were a first time team coming in here in a big game situation with a big crowd.

"They put it to us in every facet of the game and we had no answer. They took us out of our game plan. Naylor is a great team and great teams do that to you."

In her last game as a Bravette, Ann Dennis provided her team with a game-high 21 points as she tried to stave off a slow start by Scott Central that gave Naylor a 12-5 lead out of the gate.

The Bravettes responded with a 10-1 run of their own to take a lead heading into the second frame. Dennis provided the team with six of her 11 points in the frame during the run.

Despite going up by as many as four points, 21-17, early in the second quarter, Scott Central couldn't sustain the momentum.

A 3-pointer from Naylor's Andrea Sullivan closed the Lady Eagles back within a point and an ensuing Darby Pruett bucket put the Lady Eagles on top for good.

Sullivan and Pruett's shots provided the foundation for an eventual 18-7 rally in the final five minutes of the half that allowed Naylor to take a seven-point lead, 35-28, into the break.

"Last time we played the run-and-gun and pressed the whole time," Naylor head coach Gene Deckard said, referring to their last meeting, a 68-65 Naylor win. We wanted to beat them at their own game and show them that we could do it that way. Tonight we came out with a different game plan of containing them.

"We put a little ball pressure on them, taking their right hands away and kept them off the dribble with penetration. I thought we did a pretty good job of that."

Any chance of a Bravette rebound in the second half quickly vanished when Ericka Engelman opened up an 8-0 Lady Eagle run to start the third quarter.

Naylor held Scott Central scoreless for the first five minutes of the half before an Abby Ross 3-pointer finally broke the drought with 3:18 left in the frame.

Ross' shot closed the Bravettes back within 12 points, but turnovers continued to plague the team the entire third quarter.

With a minute left in the frame, the Lady Eagles took a then game-high 19-point advantage.

Scott Central hit back-to-back baskets in the final 30 seconds to enter the fourth down by 15 points before five-straight Naylor points to start the final frame gave the Bravettes their biggest deficit of the night, 57-37.

With the game looking out of reach, Johniqua Fort and Dennis hit a couple baskets midway through that cut into the Lady Eagles lead and forced them into clock killing mode.

Dennis followed up with her final basket of the game at the 2:14 mark before a Fort 3-pointer with 1:43 to play, put Scott Central back within 11 points and capped a 9-0 run.

Unfortunately for the Bravettes, as soon as they started to make things interesting the Lady Eagles deft free throw shooting kept Scott Central out of reach.

Naylor went 8 for 8 from the charity stripe the final 1:19 of play while being continually sent to the line with their lead only shrinking to 10 at its lowest point.

Shyana Tharp led the Lady Eagles' effort with 20 points on the night, including four of the team's seven 3-pointers. Pruitt had 18 points while Sullivan finished with 11 points.

"We all as a team rebounded well and stepped up toward the end and were 8 for 8 from the free throw line," Deckard said. "As long as we shoot like that at the end and stay in the ball game we'll have a shot."

Behind Dennis, Mikaela Blissett was the only other Bravette to finish in double figures. She had 11 points, included a basket in every frame.

"We struggled playing down this year," Limaugh said. "It's really been a factor that we need to work on in the offseason in trying to stay up even in hard times. During tough criticism you need to stay up and that's something we need to fix in the offseason to try to get better."

Naylor (18-9) moves on to face Chadwick in the Class 1 Quarterfinals Saturday at 2:45 p.m. at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.

As for Scott Central, they finish the year with a 20-7 record while capturing the 25th district title in the program's history and first since the 2007-2008 season.

"I'm extremely happy with our team and the improvements that we've made," Limbaugh said. "We came in from really not having any expectations to a 20-win season. A lot of coaches would take a 20-win season and a district title any day. So hopefully we made Bravette basketball a little more respectable and we look forward to improving in the offseason."

Naylor 13 22 17 13 -- 65

SCC 15 13 9 14 -- 51

NAYLOR (65) -- Andrea Sullivan 11, Shayna Tharp 20, Ericka Engelman 2, Darby Pruett 18, Charity McCoy 6, Mary Elder 6, Brooklyn Urich 2. FG 23, FT 12-15, F 8. (3-pointers: Sullivan 3, Tharp 4. Fouled out: none.)

SCOTT CENTRAL (51) -- Mikaela Blissett 10, Johniqua Fort 8, Derien Ditto 3, Ziaire Davis 4, Abby Ross 5, Ann Dennis 21. FG 22, FT 3-5, F 15. (3-pointers: Fort 1, Ditto 1, Ross 1, Dennis 1. Fouled out: none.)