EAGLES HAND BRAVES FIRST HOME AND CONFERENCE LOSS

The Bellmont Braves were always going to face a difficult test against Columbia City, one of the top teams in the state. The Eagles lived up to their reputation by winning 52-37 at The Teepee in Decatur on Friday night.

Early in the first quarter, Columbia City (15-2, 3-1 Northeast 8) moved the ball well to create solid looks at the bucket.

Addison Baxter was fouled while converting a layup, and she made the free throw to put the Eagles up by six.

A couple of baskets at the rim by Hailey Cole helped the Braves shrink the Columbia City lead late in the first quarter.

Kate Kitson set up Gwen Laurent for a baseline jumper with a wonderful pass, reducing the Columbia City lead to 15-12.

That score would hold until the end of the quarter.

Cole started the second quarter with a pair of free throws that brought the Braves back within a point.

Kyndra Sheets provided the response for the Eagles with a three.

That began a 7-0 run that put Columbia City ahead by eight.

A free throw by Emily Bleke stopped the run.

Kamryn Jarvis cut the difference back down to four with an old-fashioned three-point play after she grabbed an offensive rebound.

Laney Ziliak pushed the lead back to seven when she knocked down a shot from the perimeter.

Columbia City extended the lead to nine after forcing a turnover near the halfcourt line.

The Eagles took a 27-18 lead to the break.

Tessa Tonkel got a friendly roll on a threepointer that stretched the margin to a dozen at 32-20 early in the third.

Cole brought the lead back to down 10 with two more free throws.

Bleke drove past the Columbia City defense for a layup that made it 34-26 with under a minute remaining in the third quarter.

The margin would have remained eight were it not for a buzzer-beater of a different variety.

With 0.3 seconds left in the third, a Bellmont foul sent Molly Baker to the free-throw line.

Baker took advantage by making both free throws to give the Eagles a 36-26 edge at the end of the third quarter.

Bellmont hung around through three quarters, but the Eagles took over from there.

Bellmont tried to use active defense to get Columbia City out of rhtyhm, but Tonkel hit another three to put the visitors ahead by 15 early in the final frame.

Tonkel connected from deep again to push the lead up to 16.

Sheets added another three for the Eagles to make it 45-26.

The 11-0 run put together by the Eagles was stopped by a Bleke free throw.

Throughout the fourth quarter, Bellmont found it difficult to keep up with the torrid pace the Eagles were scoring at.

By the middle stages of the fourth, Columbia City had extended the lead to 18.

Playing with the advantage, the Eagles were able to slow down the tempo in the fourth quarter, running time off the clock in the process.

Even with the game beginning to get away, the Braves continued to battle.

Baskets by Bleke and Cole closed the gap to 15.

The late surge was not enough, though. Columbia City was able

Emily Bleke (right) of the Bellmont Braves holds the ball as she searches for a teammate to pass it to. Photo provided by Amber Minnick

to close out the contest for the 52-37 win.

Cole led the Braves with 15 points.

Bleke finished the evening with 10 points.

A late three by Kitson took her total to nine points. Her three was the only one for Bellmont on what was a difficult evening for the Braves from beyond the arc.

Jarvis added five for Bellmont.

The Braves also received two points from Laurent.

The Eagles were led by the 15 points scored by Sheets.

Baker was not far behind with 13. Tonkel

scored 11.

Baxter scored seven points in the first quarter and wound up with nine for the game.

Ziliak concluded her night with three points.

Sheets and Tonkel each made a trio of three-pointers.

Ziliak had the other triple on a night when the Eagles were terrific from range.

Both teams were solid from the charity stripe, combining to only miss seven free throws. In total, 28 foul shots were attempted on Friday.

Bellmont will look to bounce back on Tuesday with a home game against Fort

Wayne Northrop at 7:30 p.m.

The Braves will face another big NE8 test when they travel to Ossian to take on Norwell next Saturday.

Norwell entered play Friday tied with Bellmont at the top of the Northeast 8 standings, making that game every pivotal for the conference championship race.

They will follow that game against the Knights with a pair of home contests versus Garrett and Huntington North before a pair of road games.