The Annawan girls basketball team gutted out a 59-54 win over Princeville Wednesday night in LTC Tourney play at Biggsville.
The Bravettes (18-4, 5-1) will now play West Central (13-5, 6-0) in the LTC tourney title game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the West Central High School gym.
The No. 3 Bravettes had a narrow 12-11 lead after one quarter of play and a 29-24 advantage at the half. Zoey Vance had eight first half points for Annawan and Kaylee Celus and Bella VanOpdorp scored seven and six, respectively.
Paisley Schock led Princeville with 10 first half points and Brianna Brodie added seven.
The Princes outscored the Bravettes 18-17 in the third quarter, but Annawan still maintained a 43-41 lead. Brodie scored 12 more points in the third to keep Princeville in the hunt. Vance and Olivia Goodley each scored five in the third quarter for Annawan.
The Bravettes put together a 16-13 fourth-quarter effort to fend off Princeville for the 59-54 victory. VanOpdorp put up eight points in the final quarter to help seal the win, while Brodie scored eight more in vain for the Princes.
“The girls held together after a long layoff and we made big plays when we needed to,” said Annawan Coach Jason Burkiewicz. “They’re a challenging group, for me, when it comes to consistency of what I want them to do, but when they hit that stride and find that rhythm we are looking for on both ends they are something to watch,” he added.
Brodie was the high-scorer with 27 points for Princeville. Schock added 14 and Sahara Strietmatter scored eight in vain.
VanOpdorp led Annawan’s balanced scoring attack with 19 points. Following were Celus and Vance with 15 points each and Olivia Goodley added eight in the win.
