Bainville Girls Edge Lions, 45-40
Bainville’s girls’ basketball squad entered its non-conference game at Lustre on a roll. The Bulldogs kept their streak going with a hardfought win over the Lions, 45-40, on Saturday, Jan. 27.
The victory avenged Bainville’s lone defeat of the season. It was quite a test for the Bulldogs as they led by only a 33-31 margin against the solid Lustre team entering the third quarter.
“We learned how to face pressure and adversity,” Bainville Coach Lance Berndt said of lessons from the contest.
The Bulldogs managed to emerge with the victory despite having two of their top players in foul trouble most of the game. “Everybody had to step up,” Berndt added.
Brecklyn Pippenger, who spent a lot of the first three quarters on the bench with foul issues, scored the first five points of the fourth quarter on a basket off a pass from Hailey Berwick and a threepoint shot.
The Lions, however, answered with the next five points on a fastbreak hoop by Aubri Holzrichter, a basket off a rebound by Grace Brown and a free throw by Alexa Reddig to close the margin to 38-36.
With the score at 40-38, the Bulldogs gained the upper- hand on an inside shot by Elsie Wilson and another three-pointer by B. Pippenger for a 45-38 lead with 2:22 remaining.
Bainville’s defense was able to hold the Lions to two points in the final minutes. Berndt credits the rebounding of B. Pippenger and Tally Berwick for being keys in the fourth period.
Berndt, in his first year guiding the Bulldogs, said he keeps stressing composure and intensity to his team. The Bulldogs are currently undefeated in District 2C play and were ranked fifth in the latest Class C poll. “We’re trying to ignore it as much as possible,” Berndt smiled about what he tells his players about the poll. Top scores for Bainville were Miah Pippenger with 15, Brecklyn Pippenger with nine and T. Berwick with eight. Also scoring were Wilson with seven, H. Berwick with four and Lile Butikofer with two.
Leading the Lions were Reddig with 14 and Grace Brown with 11. Also scoring were Kencia Brown with eight and Holzrichter with seven
