Brookfield wins tourney tune-up

The Warriors pulled away from United, 46-31.

By RYAN JONES

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

HANOVERTON — Brookfield girls basketball coach Shawn Hammond knew playing United would be a welcome break from Trumbull Athletic Conference play, but was concerned that his team had tired legs.

The Warriors, playing for the fifth time in less than two weeks, didn’t appear fatigued as they rode a 14-point fourth quarter for a 48-31 victory over United Saturday.

“I thought we were a bit sluggish at the beginning of the game,” Hammond said. “But one of the reasons we scheduled United was to help us to prepare for the [Division III] tournament. You don’t always get the chance to play a team of this caliber this late in the season. The atmosphere was great this afternoon.”

Brookfield (13-2) had to play part of the second quarter and the final half of the third quarter without their leading scorer and rebounder, 6-foot-1 Morgan Bonekovic, who was saddled with foul trouble.

United trailed 25-18 when Bonekovic picked up her third foul with 3:52 left in the third, then went on a 5-0 run that cut the score to 25-23.

Brookfield staved off United’s charge because of the play of Lauren Gentile. The 5-7 senior, who scored seven of her 11 points in the second half, recorded a three-point play and assisted on teammate Brittany Hiner’s short jumper to extend the lead to 30-23.

“We run some things for Lauren when Morgan isn’t in the game,” Hammond said. “I thought she really stepped it up; she flashed to the ball and really looked to score knowing that Morgan was on the bench.”

Hammond thought the play of his bench also was crucial when Bonekovic sat.

“Our bench people really played well in the second half,” Hammond said. “They gave us some fresh legs and Alison Simeon and Rachel Gentile scored some buckets and got some key rebounds for us.

“I thought we handled their pressure pretty well, and we got some easy transition buckets as the game wore on.”

Leading 32-25 heading into the fourth quarter the Warriors closed the game strong, limiting the Golden Eagles to six points.

United coach Roger Zeigler said his team became passive in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t attack them,” he said. “We played perimeter basketball. When we finally got in the lane and forced their defense to help we dropped it off for some easy baskets, but it was too late by then.”

United’s offense struggled most of the game to find a rhythm, and was held under 10 points in each quarter.

The Golden Eagles found scoring in the paint troublesome against Bonekovic, who blocked seven shots in addition to her team-high 15 points and eight rebounds.

“Nothing against their [Brookfield] defense, but were able to get some good shots,” Zeigler said. “We struggled mightily from the field [United shot 25 percent, 11-of-44, for the game] and the majority of our offense starts on perimeter and then moves inside. As we struggled shooting I thought we became apprehensive on offense.”

Maggie Sell led United with 11 points, while Maggie Miller had four assists and five steals.

Kelly Jones added 11 points and six rebounds for Brookfield, which shot 19-of-40 (48 percent).