Spotting top-ranked Brimfield 14-point lead on its home court too much for Unity girls to overcome

BRIMFIELD, Ill. — Unity girls basketball coach Brad Begeman knew his team needed to play well early to prove it belonged on the same court as No. 1-ranked Brimfield and take the home crowd out of the game.

The first eight minutes, however, couldn’t have gone any worse.

Brimfield forced No. 7 Unity into nine turnovers in the first quarter while taking an 18-4 lead, and the Indians maintained a double-digit lead for most of the rest of the game to take a 56-40 victory in the Class 1A Brimfield Sectional championship game.

Brimfield advances to Monday’s super-sectional in Mount Sterling and will play the winner of the sectional at Bunker Hill. Jacksonville Routt and second-ranked Okawville were scheduled to play Thursday, but inclement weather moved the game to Friday.

Unity turned the ball over six times in the opening minutes but only trailed 6-4 after Brooklyn Stiefel scored on an inbounds play. However, Brimfield scored the next 12 points to take command. Ella Lune and Ellie Doe both scored a 3-point basket and a 2-point basket in the run. Dura’s bank shot in the lane closed out the quarter.

“That’s exactly what we said we didn’t want to have to start the game,” Begeman said. “And it happened. We had a big hole to dig out of. Right off the bat, we’re down by 14. They were hitting every shot, and we were slow on our rotations.

“It wasn’t a lot of what they did. We were making some silly decisions. There were times we had a chance for rebounds, and we didn’t just go get the ball.”

“I don’t think we were ready for how fast they were,” Stiefel sad. “We obviously knew they were going to be fast, but I think we underestimated them a little bit. They jumped on us quick, from the second they got the jump ball. (Begeman) told me at first I was going to go to the boards, and then as soon as they started doing their runouts on us, I was like, ‘Oh, they’re already back.’ So then I couldn’t rebound anymore.”

Unity fought back early in the second quarter. Junior Kyra Carothers scored seven points in a 9-2 run that got the Mustangs within seven points at 20-13. The teams traded punches until late in the quarter when Ashlynn Arnsman split a pair of free throws to get Unity within 26-17.

The Mustangs missed their final three shots of the first half, while Doe made a long 2-pointer and followed with a 3-pointer to put Brimfield ahead 31-17 at halftime.

“You know what? She did it Tuesday night the same way (against Brown County) when she came up with three big threes,” Indians coach Maribeth Dura said. “When we were kind of starting to dip, those shots were big.”

“It seemed like the game really turned,” Begeman said of Doe’s shots. “We had a chance to cut it to six. We had a lot of momentum going. Everybody’s like, ‘We’re back in it.’ But every time we answered, they answered.”

Unity closed to 35-23 in the third quarter when Stiefel hit a 3-pointer with 4:13 to play, but Brimfield closed the third-quarter scoring on a 3-pointer by Jaclyn Fabry to go ahead 44-28.

Rather than slow the tempo and milk the clock in the fourth quarter, the Indians kept their foot on the pedal — which, at times, led to careless play. They turned the ball over four times and chucked up what appeared to be several hurried or unnecessary shots rather than caress a double-digit lead.

However, a 3-pointer by Lune put Brimfield ahead 50-32. Another one by Fabry, who had made just 17 3-pointers all season, was the final nail in the coffin. It put the host school ahead 54-38 with less than two minutes to go.

“It’s one of those times where you go, ‘No, don’t take that shot,’” Dura said with a grin. “And then it’s good. You know, we wanted to slow it down and just take really good shots. (Fabry) normally isn’t a 3-point shooter, but she must have been feeling it.”

Lune, who has committed to play at Eastern Illinois next year, finished with 28 points. Carothers finished with 15 for the Mustangs, whose season ends with a 28-6 record.

“We had kind of a rough draw, considering five of the top teams in the state (poll) were all meeting at the same super-sectional,” Stiefel said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Whoever makes it out of the super-sectional is going to win state by long shot. It could have been us as much as it could have been anyone.”

“This very well could have been the state championship game tonight,” Begeman said. “For sure, it was a final four type of battle. I was proud of the girls. It’s the best record we’ve ever had at Unity. It’s obviously not the finish we wanted.”