The Annawan Bravettes had West Central on the ropes after taking a 19-14 first quarter lead Saturday in the title game of the LTC tournament, but West Central outscored Annawan in the middle two quarters (41-29) to pull out the hard-fought 69-65 win.
The Bravettes were able to subdue West Central guard, Shelby Bowman, in the first quarter but Bowman connected on three 3-pointers and scored 13 in the second quarter (and 17 in the first half) as the Heat carried a slim 37-33 lead at the break.
Kaylee Celus scored 11 first half points and Olivia Goodley contributed nine for the Bravettes.
Bowman erupted for 16 points in the third quarter as the Heat extended their lead to seven at 55-48.
Annawan outscored West Central 17-14 in the final eight minutes, but the Bravettes came up four points shy in their title bid. Zoey Vance scored 10 second half points for Annawan and Bowman tallied 27 in the half.
In all, Bowman racked up 44 points on the night. She made six 3-pointers and was 10-12 at the free throw line. In Bowman’s last outing against Wethersfield she scored 48, which brings her two game total to 92 points.
Harlee Hainds contributed 10 points in the win for West Central and Samantha Meyer added eight.
West Central is now 14-5 on the season and 6-0 in the LTC race and Annawan is 18-5 and 5-1 in the conference.
