Chesapeake junior Kendall Kotofski sidestepped the Broadneck guards, scored herthree points and channeled her best Caitlin Clark, flashing her hand across her face.
“That doesn’t faze me,” Broadneck senior Makayla Kropfelder said.
While the Bruins weren’t terribly far behind early in the second quarter, Chesapeake threatened to make it a lopsided half. The host Cougars commanded the glass on both ends and had already struck three times from beyond the arc.
The Bruins made sure that budding trend didn’t last.
Broadneck did not let the Cougars hit anything — not a free throw, layup or 3-pointer — for the rest of the half. Led by sophomore point guard Carmen Hubbard along with Kropfelder, the Bruins scored 10 straight, the difference in their eventual 45-36 win.
“You gotta show your game before you can talk,” said Kropfelder, who netted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. “We showed our game, but we didn’t talk.”
Broadneck (8-5) proved for the second time this week that it was not the same team that suffered lopsided defeats early in the season. The Bruins only fell by four to defending Class 3A and county champion South River on Tuesday — as much of a warning shot to the rest of the county as Friday’s hard-nosed win.
“Our ball movement’s [helped us],” Hubbard, who scored 12 points, said. “Going inside out, helping our big get buckets.”
Failing to pull down rebounds early, as well as missing shots, was largely what kept Broadneck from going toe to toe with Chesapeake. It slowed down, focusing on keeping to its own style of play instead of chasing the Cougars.
“We tend to get 3-point happy, and in the first quarter, we were 1-for-14. We can’t play like that, outside-in,” coach Juan McKinney said. “So we gotta continue to try to get the ball inside to Makayla, play off her and get open shots, not rush shots. That worked second half.”
But Chesapeake didn’t surrender when the Bruins turned a six-point deficit into a five-point halftime lead.
Instead, Kotofski (10 points, eight rebounds) and senior Ella Cieri burst from the gates by nailing two free throws and a 3-pointer, respectively, swiftly knotting the score. Just when Hubbard and Kropfelder swerved Broadneck into the lead again, senior Kiery Matkins (14 points, five rebounds, three steals) kept Chesapeake in it. She brought the Cougars within one at the end of the third, then hit a pair of shots to keep pace with the Bruins early in the fourth.
Tied at 32, the energy on the court grew more and more frenetic and angry.
“All season I’ve been dealing with just beating up a big,” Kropfelder said. “You have to learn to play through it, channel that energy and just score and score. Make them more mad.”
Kropfelder used the Cougars clawing at her for rebounds to her advantage. The 6-foot-2 center drew fouls as she collected rebounds, not only finishing her putbacks but garnishing a point or two on top. Between her and freshman Kileigh Perkins (11 points, eight rebounds), the Bruins put enough distance between themselves and their adversaries that when Chesapeake did make shots, it was too little, too late.
“We’re such a young team, but leadership is starting to come, especially from our younger players,” McKinney said. “Kileigh is really taking on that role. Confidence is the key right now.”
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