The Annawan Bravettes pounced early by taking a 21-5 lead over Mercer County Monday night in Aledo. The Bravettes went on to win the LTC contest, 53-27.
The No. 3 Bravettes are now 22-5 on the season and 9-1 in LTC play, while Mercer County is even on the season at 13-13 and 5-5 in the conference.
Annawan’s defense held the Golden Eagles to just two second quarter points as they outscored Mercer County 11-2 in the second frame.
“We swallowed up much of the court with our defensive pressure and jumped out to a 21-5 first quarter lead,” said Annawan Coach Jason Burkiewicz. “We were able to extend that to 32-7 at the half.”
Kaylee Celus led Annawan with 10 first half points, Zoey Vance contributed eight and Olivia Goodley had seven.
Annawan outscored Mercer County 14-10 in the third quarter as the lead grew to 46-10 with eight minutes left to play. Molly Hofman scored seven third quarter points for Mercer County and Sydney Lankin made one 3-pointer in the third quarter and two more in the fourth quarter en route to scoring nine points on the night.
Vance scored eight second half points to add to her game-high 18-point total. Vance shared game scoring honors with Celus, while Goodley added 10 in the win.
“The girls played well tonight with still some room to improve, but Mercer County has been within five points of margin with some of the top teams in our conference, so to go down to their place and dominate was very encouraging,” said Burkiewicz.
“I told the girls our postseason started tonight and it was time to flip the switch. It makes a big difference now that we’re down to two games a week the rest of the way out,” Burkiewicz noted. “Our energy levels are high and it’s a big difference what you can do as compared to playing three or four games a week.”
LTC title to be decided Wednesday
Two key games will be played Wednesday that will determine which team will claim the LTC crown.
No. 7 Biggsville (West Central) is set to win at least a share of the title. They remain the only undefeated team in the league at 10-0 and their final game is against Knoxville (9-16, 4-5).
The other key game is Annawan against Abingdon-Avon (22-7, 8-2) in Abingdon. The game will get under way at 7:30 p.m. With a win, Annawan will have a chance to tie for the title (if Knoxville can pull off a big upset win against West Central).
