Brashear Lady Tigers Play Novinger in District Semi-Finals

Both teams battled hard during the 1st half, but the 3rd quarter determined who would advance to the District 6 Championship Game.

Brashear and Novinger have a long basketball history. The District 6 semi-final game would mark the 5th meeting this season for these two teams. Going into this contest, Novinger led the series 3 wins to 1 for Brashear, but with that 1 win, Brashear had demonstrated that they could beat Novinger. Brashear got on the scoreboard 1st on the 1st play of the game as Brashear's trio of Sophomores teamed up for the score. Hailee Kelsey tipped the ball to Jessi Hill who hit Christina Scudder for the fast break layup and a 2-0 lead. Brashear extended the early lead to 6-2 before Novinger made a run that tied the game 7-7 with Novinger taking the lead at the very end of the 1st quarter with a score of 9-7. Katelyn and Kourtney Brawner shouldered the load for Novinger during the 2nd period of play scoring all 13 of Novinger's points. Brashear answered with 11 of their own leaving Novinger with a 22-18 halftime lead. Both teams struggled to find the basket early in the 3rd quarter, but Novinger eventually found the range for 12 points while Brashear was held to a single Christina Scudder free throw. Brashear finally aroused from their slump in the 4th and started to cut into Novinger's 15 point lead. The Lady Tigers pulled within 5 midway through the 4th but Novinger was able to find buckets when they needed them to ice the game. Despite outscoring Novinger 12-11 in the final quarter, Brashear still came up short 45-31 at games end. Kimberly Elsea had 11 for Brashear. Hailee Kelsey had 7, Christina Scudder had 6, Ashley Clarkson had 4, and ChaRae Cole had 3 points. Novinger had a pair of players in double figures as Kourtney Brawner and Katelyn Brawner had 15 and 11. Whitney Middleton added 7, and Katie King and Emily Wayman each had 6 points. Brashear finishes their season with a record of 16-10 and Novinger advances to the District Championship Game against top seed Green City on Friday night.