The No. 3 ranked Annawan girls basketball team used a behemoth 24-2 first quarter to pounce on the Knoxville Blue Bullets in a 71-34 LTC Thursday night win. The Bravettes extended that lead to 45-15 at the half.

Annawan Coach Jason Burkiewicz was very pleased with the way his team responded after some recent retooling. “We’ve had some good moments this season, but after our Christmas tourney I told the girls that something was just off and not right,” noted Burkiewicz. 

“We weren’t hitting our max potential on offense. We have so many scorers that we take shots quickly, which is a style I like but it’s put us in scoring droughts on occasion.” Burkiewicz showed his team some video footage to help demonstrate where a little patience and an extra pass or two can lead to a higher percentage shot.

“We couldn’t have been better at bringing those traits we studied and practiced into the game like we did tonight,” said Burkiewicz. “We had everyone involved scoring and hit the options we have been pointing out.”

There were no signs of a scoring drought in Thursday’s win over the Blue Bullets. Three Annawan players scored in double digits in the first half blowout. Clara Bella VanOpdorp scored 13, while Zoey Vance and Kaylee Celus each added 10 in the half.

Knoxville’s Addi Orr made three treys in the second quarter en route to scoring nine of her team’s 13 points. 

The Bravettes outscored Knoxville 26-19 in the second half to ride out the 71-34 win. Vance added eight more points in the second half and Paige Sierens chipped in with six. 

Vance and VanOpdorp shared scoring honors with 18 a piece. Celus totalled 12 on the night, while Sierens and Olivia Goodley each scored eight in support. Orr topped Knoxville with 12 points. 

Annawan’s record is now 16-3 and 4-1 in the LTC, while Knoxville slips to 6-8 and 2-3. å