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Sharon’s height delivers title at Brookfield tourney
By Jim Flick
BROOKFIELD
Strong inside play was the key to the Sharon High girls basketball team’s 57-45 win over host Brookfield Thursday in the championship game of the 18th Annual Brookfield Lady Warriors Memorial Holiday Tournament.
“Twin towers” — sophomore Tanayja Sanders and senior Marketta Jackson — dominated play in the paint for the Tigers (4-2). They often grabbed Sharon players’ missed shots and put them back up for field goals, while limiting Brookfield’s offense in the first half to one shot on most trips down the court.
Sanders scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. Jackson added nine points and 10 rebounds. Both were named to the tournament all-star team.
“They’re two big girls to handle, and they’ve been carrying us all year,” Sharon coach Gene Sarazen said. “We stress trying to get the ball inside to them.
“It’s tough to stop two of them,” Sarazen said. “We’ve taken advantage of that.”
Brookfield coach Shawn Hammond said, “We don’t have much height, so we knew we were going to have our hands full. We had 20-some turnovers, and when you have that many turnovers, it’s tough to win.”
Brookfield (6-2) was led by senior Amy Rasoul, who tallied 18 points. Brandi Nitch, a sophomore, contributed nine points. Tori Thompson, a junior, and sophomore Lauren Hawley each netted six points.
Rasoul and Thompson were named to the tournament all-star squad.
Sharon built a big lead in the first quarter, scoring the game’s first seven points and leading 18-4 at the end of the first stanza.
Sanders jammed home 10 points for Sharon in the first quarter, while Rasoul’s two field goals accounted for the Warriors’ scoring.
Sharon scored the first six points of the second quarter and out-scored Brookfield 15-11 in the quarter, with Jackson contributing seven points.
Sharon led 33-15 at halftime, the stretched the lead to a game-high 25 points, 42-17.
Brookfield marched back into the game, outscoring Sharon 19-6 in the remaining minutes of the third quarter and first minutes of the final stanza. Rasoul tallied seven points in that stretch.
The Warriors continued to battle through the fourth quarter, coming to within six points of Sharon, 50-44 with about three minutes remaining when Rasoul sank a field goal.
But Brookfield came no closer to the lead.
“I’m proud of the way we came back,” Hammond said. “We didn’t cave. You get down by almost 30 and it’s easy to pack it in and get worse, and we didn’t do that.”