Brooke’s Lorelei Costlow drives past defense from Pelegreen. - Andrew Grimm

The Huskies, who had defeated the Bruins by 41 a little over two weeks prior, saw their lead trimmed to single digits late in the second quarter. They proceeded to close the first half on a big run and start the second half the same way, pulling away for a 71-36 triumph in the Brooke Wellness Center and a season sweep.

“We responded in the second half and pulled away,” Harrison Central head coach Chace Smith said. “Brooke has some youth, but they’ve improved a lot in a couple weeks and they’re going to blossom into some good ball players by the end of the year … they came out with a chip on their shoulder and were ready to play. We had to re-adjust and we did that, we got focused in the second half and came out and applied the pressure.”

After leading 37-22 at halftime, the Huskies (4-4) out-paced the Bruins (2-3) 34-14 in the second half and forced 12 of the Bruins 22 turnovers after halftime. The Huskies had 17 steals in the game using an aggressive press most of the way.

“The defense really picked it up,” Smith added. “I’ve said it a bunch, we’re a young team and there’s going to be ebbs and flows, but what I really want them to understand is that we’re a team that’s going to win games with defense. We have the athletes and we have the skill, when we decide to dig in and really play defense in any scheme we use, when we take pride in it, that’s what our identity is and when we can really be the most that we can be.”

Brooke’s Maddie Bowman puts a shot up past Harrison Central’s Ava Conley. - Andrew Grimm

While the defense picked things up in the second half, the offense was there throughout as Harrison Central netted at least 17 points in all four quarters, finishing with three players in double digits and two more close to it.

Kelsey Powers led the way with a game-high 12 points and five steals and three assists, while Ava Conley netted 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds while matched up with 6-foot-4 Bruins freshman Maddie Bowman. Shayla Nameth came off the bench and netted 10 points, three assists, three rebounds, a block and a steal. Mikayla Pelegreen tallied nine points, three steals and two assists and Kara Blackburn tallied eight points and a game-high four assists.

All told, 11 different players scored for the Huskies.

“We just got out-hustled, that’s the bottom line,” Brooke head coach Amy Serevicz said. “We still have the mindset where, when we get down, we don’t fight back. When we’re close, we’re good. That’s a mentality we have to change and we’re working to change. I told the girls it doesn’t matter what the score is, you have to keep hustling and we got out-hustled. We didn’t get back, lost people on defense and didn’t pick up people we were supposed to.

“We’re young still and we’ve improved a lot since the first time we played them. We’re getting better every game, we just have to keep getting better. We can do it in spurts, it’s a matter of putting all the pieces together for the whole game.”

UP THE COURT — Harrison Central’s Ella Smith races up the floor past teammate Emily Cope and Brooke’s Marionna DiPaolo after a steal during Thursday’s game inside the Brooke Wellness Center. - Andrew Grimm

After the Bruins pulled within 10-8 midway through the first quarter, the Huskies scored the last nine points of the quarter to lead 19-8 after one.

Brooke fought back in the second quarter as Emily Laughlin came off the bench and knocked down three 3s in helping the Bruins pull within seven twice at 23-16 and 26-19, but the Huskies closed on an 11-3 run to lead by 15 at the break.

Once the second half started, Harrison Central tallied the first nine points of the third quarter and did not look back from there.

McLaughlin’s nine points led Brooke, she also had four rebounds. Bowman finished with seven points, a team-high eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Alexis Kauffman hit two 3s to finish with six points and Keira Kosut tallied five points, four steals and three assists.

UP NEXT

Harrison Central’s Kelsey Powers takes a shot. - Andrew Grimm

Harrison Central: Hosts East Liverpool on Monday looking to finish another season sweep.

Brooke: Travels to Buckeye Local on Monday looking for a repeat win after taking the first meeting.

Harrison Central 71, Brooke 36

HC 19-18-17-17 — 71

B 8-14-4-10 — 36

Harrison Central’s Mikayla Pelegreen looks to make a pass past Brooke’s Maddie Bowman. - Andrew Grimm

HARRISON CENTRAL (4-4): Blackburn 3 2-2 8; Pelegreen 4 0-0 9; Powers 5 2-4 12; Cope 2 1-2 5; Conley 5 1-4 11; Nameth 4 1-1 10; B. Smith 2 0-0 6; E. Smith 1 0-0 3; Stull 0 0-0 0; Visser 1 0-0 2; Whipkey 1 0-0 3; Robinson 1 0-0 2; Ryder 0 0-0 0; Applegarth 0 0-0 0; Hyde 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 29, 7-13; 71.

BROOKE (2-3): Bowman 3 1-2 7; Kosut 2 1-2 5; Costlow 1 0-0 2; Bolen 1 0-0 2; DiPaolo 1 0-0 3; McLaughlin 3 0-0 9; Teller 0 0-0 0; Alcantara 0 1-2 1; Kauffman 2 0-0 6; Corso 0 0-0 0; Provenzano 0 0-0 0; Bober 0 1-2 1; Mitchell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13, 4-8; 36.

3-POINTERS: Harrison Central 6 (B. Smith 2, Pelegreen, Nameth, E. Smith, Whipkey); Brooke 6 (McLaughlin 3, Kauffman 2, DiPaolo). ASSISTS: Harrison Central 16 (Blackburn 4); Brooke 9 (Kosut 3). REBOUNDS: Harrison Central 37 (Conley 9); Brooke 35 (Bowman 8). STEALS: Harrison Central 17 (Powers 5); Brooke 11 (Kosut 4). BLOCKS: Harrison Central 1 (Nameth); Brooke 6 (Bowman 3). TURNOVERS: Harrison Central 14; Brooke 22.