Published: November 24, 2009 11:45 pm      

Bulldogs win county title

DANVILLE — Tenacious defensive play led the Brownsburg girls’ basketball team to a 59-52 victory over Plainfield Saturday night in the championship game of the Hendricks County Tournament.

Brownsburg forced 17 Plainfield turnovers and took advantage of lapses in the Quakers’ defense.

“We really wanted it and you could tell when they stepped onto the court today they were not going to let anything get past them,” Brownsburg coach Amy Brauman said. “(Plainfield) plays such aggressive defense, we did a great job of getting the ball down the floor and we just had some wide-open looks.”

It was a disappointing performance for the Quakers, who were trying to defend their 2008 championship.

“We didn’t play very well and there are several thing we’ve gotta do with the main thing being decision making,” Plainfield coach Curt Benge said. “Defensively we have got to get some things ironed out where we are not leaving people open. Offensively, we have to learn to settle down a little bit.”

Defense and turnovers were pivotal in the first quarter as Brownsburg totaled eight to Plainfield’s six. Brownsburg led 10-8 at the end of the period due in large part to freshman Stephanie Mavunga who had eight points for the Bulldogs.

“Stephanie is very athletic and at 6-foot-2 she is intimidating,” Brauman said. “She is a great shot blocker and offensively she is hard to stop when she gets the ball.”

Brownsburg opened up with a 5-1 run to begin the second quarter to take a 15-9 lead before Benge called a timeout to regroup.

Plainfield continued to struggle to score because of the zone defense Brownsburg employed after the timeout in an effort to combat Quaker Julia Henson, who scored 15 points in the semi-final against Avon, but was held scoreless in this contest.

“Our zone worked well and once we started rebounding it worked even better,” Brauman said. “Henson is such a great player and we wanted to shut her down and Ryne (Carr) did a great job guarding her.”

Brownsburg continued adding to its lead and went up 23-13 with just over a minute left before the break.

Two late three-pointers by Quaker Jamie Lydick brought Plainfield back within six as Brownsburg took a 25-19 lead into the half.

Lydick led all scorers with nine points at the break while Mavunga had eight for Brownsburg.

Kasey Johnson started off with seven points in the third quarter and brought the Quakers to within two of the Bulldogs at 34-32, but Brownsburg answered the Plainfield run and extended its lead to 39-32 going into the fourth quarter.

“We have had some difficult games in the past and haven’t been able to respond,” Brauman said. “For them to be able to step up and respond like that, it is huge.”

Plainfield could not overtake the Bulldogs down the stretch as Brownsburg continued to outplay the Quakers and sealed the victory.

Benge hopes the loss will help the Quakers improve as the season continues.

“We talked before the game that win or lose, it’s not the whole season,” Benge said. “The girls get to see what we did wrong and we get a chance to go fix it.”

Mavunga led Brownsburg with 15 points and teammate Morgan Miller scored 12 while Lydick had 17 and Johnson tallied 15 for Plainfield.