Girls' basketball: Brandon-Evansville finishes third in the LEC

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The Brandon-Evansville girls finished tied for third in the Little Eight Conference after beating Battle Lake 58-40 last Thursday night.

The Battlers came into the night a game up on Brandon-Evansville but left with an even conference record of 7-5. The two teams split during the regular season after Battle Lake beat the Chargers 38-33 on February 1.

Brandon-Evansville held the Battlers at an arm’s length throughout the night on Thursday. The Chargers hit eight threes in the game and were led by four players in double figures. Carlie Steffenson had 13. Mariah Hansen finished with 12 and Megan and Emma Friedrich each had 10.

“We had nice balanced scoring,” head coach Dick Simpson said. “We hit the open man and forced some turnovers. We played pretty well and just kind of extended our lead. They cut it to eight in the second half, but it was a pretty good night for us.”

It was a pretty good end to the conference schedule for the Chargers. They started the season 0-5 overall but have gone 12-3 since then.

“We’ve done pretty well,” Simpson said. “I’m kind of pleasantly surprised. After our start and that tough schedule, they’ve stepped up their play and it’s gone pretty well.”

They had three non-conference games left on the schedule before the playoffs. Brandon-Evansville was set to welcome in Melrose last night, Tuesday, before going to Wheaton on Thursday and finishing things out with a home game against Park Christian on Friday.

GAME STATISTICS

BRANDON-EVANSVILLE 31 27 – 58

BATTLE LAKE 17 23 – 40

TOTALS – B-E – FG – 16-57; FT – 18-25; Rebounds – 27; Assists – 17; Turnovers – 15; Battle Lake – FG – 17-47; FT – 4-9; Rebounds – 28; Turnovers – 15

B-E – Megan Kokett – 6 points; Steffenson – 13 points; M. Friedrich – 10 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists; Carrigan Okerlund – 1 point; Elizabeth Vinson – 6 points; Hansen – 12 points; E. Friedrich – 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists; Kinsley Randt – 4 rebounds; Kristine Betterman – 5 rebounds

BATTLE LAKE – Abby Scholten – 2; Maddy Merickel – 7; Carlie VanWatermulen – 14; Katie Rilla – 10; Emily Marso – 7

Tags: brandon evansville sports, sports, chargers, girls, basketball