FELICITY — It’s hard to beat the same team two times in a season, let alone three. However, the Western Brown Lady Broncos basketball team had a chance to knock off their rival, the Georgetown Lady G-Men, for the third time this season when the teams met in the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference Championship Saturday afternoon at Felicity-Franklin High School.

Georgetown took an early 3-0 lead, but the Lady Broncos went on a tear for the rest of the quarter, out-scoring Georgetown 12-1 en route to a 50-32 victory.

The Lady Broncos stretched the lead to 17-4 before Georgetown finally hit a second field-goal. Western Brown head coach Dennis Overstake said his team’s defense did a good job preventing the Lady G-Men from converting field goals, instead having to settle for points from the foul line.

“We talked about that for a while,” Overstake said. “All they were scoring was from the foul line. They’re such an aggressive team that they like to take the ball to the basket. If you don’t move your feet and get in position, that’s what’s going to happen.”

The Lady Broncos led 24-10 at halftime. In the third quarter, it appeared Georgetown would be able to make it a ballgame. The Lady G-Men cut the lead to as few as seven points at 31-24, but the Lady Broncos closed the quarter on a 6-0 run to squash the rally.

Georgetown head coach Bernie Cropper gave credit to the Western Brown defense, saying his team couldn’t penetrate the Lady Broncos’ zone.

“They did a great job with their extended zone defense,” Cropper said. “They’re long and athletic. We couldn’t get any easy looks. Give them a lot of credit on defense.”

The Lady G-Men switched to a press defense midway through the game that appeared to give the Lady Broncos trouble, and while Georgetown did gain some momentum from the turnovers, their lack of rebounding and other factors caught up with them.

“We were able to get a little momentum,” Cropper said. “We had trouble getting easy shots against them. We certainly had trouble rebounding against them.”

No Lady G-Men player finished the game in double-digits. Kennedy Underwood had seven points while Kim Seigla added six in her first game back. Lexi Ring led Western Brown with 15 points while Hannah Sininger chipped in 14, 12 of which came in the first half.

Both teams now prepare for sectional tournament play. Georgetown squares off against Gamble Montessori at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13 at Taylor High School. Cropper said he believes his team’s schedule prepared them for a tough tournament.

“We hadn’t really played a bad team all year,” Cropper said. “We have a young team. Every night we’re playing good people. Hopefully that’ll toughen them up for tournament.”

Western Brown, meanwhile, heads to Withrow High School for a 6:30 p.m. contest against Taylor High School. Overstake said his team, which has won three straight conference games, is hopefully peaking at the right time.

“They always say this is the time you want to be playing your best, going into tournament,” Overstake said. “We were able to win the last three league games and it put us in a tie for second place with New Richmond…You play them as you get them. We were playing well the last three ballgames heading into this.”

Senior Lexi Ring led the Lady Broncos with 15 points in Western Brown’s victory over Georgetown at Felicity High School on Saturday afternoon.
https://www.newsdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_DSC_0673.jpgSenior Lexi Ring led the Lady Broncos with 15 points in Western Brown’s victory over Georgetown at Felicity High School on Saturday afternoon. Garth Shanklin | News Democrat

By Garth Shanklin

gshanklin@civitasmedia.com

Reach Garth Shanklin at 937-378-6161 or follow him on Twitter at @GNDShanklin.