PREP ROUNDUP Girard narrowly escapes upset bid
Newton Falls' stall offense approach almost worked.
NEWTON FALLS -- Cachet Murray scored a game-high 14 points and made two free throws with under a minute remaining as undefeated Girard High barely avoided an upset before defeating Newton Falls, 25-20, in a Trumbull Athletic Conference girls basketball game on Thursday night.
Newton Falls (1-10, 1-6 TAC) employed a slow-down offense to stay close. Girard (13-0, 7-0) led 15-6 at halftime but the Tigers rallied in the second half to pull within one point with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Courtni Collins paced Newton Falls with seven points.
Brookfield 49, Champion 47
BROOKFIELD -- Freshman Morgan Bonekovic made a basket with two seconds remaining to give Brookfield the victory.
Bonekovic finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and eight blocked shots. She has 96 blocked shots this season.
Jacki Rust led the Warriors (10-3, 6-1 TAC) with 16 points and four steals, while Raquel Brenner had 12 points and three assists. Rachel Pasquerilla also had three assists.
Jessica Wood scored 22 points to lead Champion (7-4, 4-2), while Elizabeth Ghindia scored 11.
Hubbard 58, LaBrae 35
HUBBARD -- Shari Bullock scored 15 points to lead Hubbard.
The Eagles (3-9, 2-5 TAC) also received double figure scoring from Shelia Drummond and Tressa Scahill, who scored 12 apiece.
LaBrae (7-6, 4-3) was led by Maddie D'Orio, who finished with 11 points.
Lakeview 50, Liberty 43
CORTLAND -- Lindsay Whetzel scored 21 points for Lakeview (8-5, 4-3 TAC), which trailed 21-15 at halftime, but took control with a 19-8 scoring advantage in the third period.
Whetzel also had 10 rebounds, while Christine Martin added 10 points for the Bulldogs. Amy Downs had three steals and three assists, and Alynn Martin had three assists.
Ashley White scored 12 points for Liberty (5-8, 1-6), while Michelle Dykes and Elaina Williams had 10 apiece.
Mathews 75, Bristol 24
BRISTOLVILLE -- Tara Ford scored 26 points as Mathews improved to 12-1.
Melissa Morrison added 13 points for the Mustangs, who are 6-1 in the Northeastern Athletic Conference. Lauren Roscoe finished with 11 points, while Melanie Roscoe had 19 rebounds and Sophia Paddock three blocked shots.
Bristol (3-9, 2-5) fell behind 28-9 at halftime.