By Mark Ambrogi
Brownsburg girls basketball team scored 19 points in the first half Saturday night.
Unfortunately, it could manage just 15 the rest of the way in 44-34 loss to Crown Point in the Class 4A state championship game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Class 4A Crown Point, whose nickname is Bulldogs like Brownsburg, finished with a 25-1 record.
Brownsburg (17-11) was 8-10 before winning nine consecutive games prior to the state championship.
After Brownsburg led 19-10 after the first quarter, Crown Point reeled off 14 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 24-19 lead at halftime.
“The second quarter was a huge blow to us,” Brownsburg coach Debbie Smiley said. “If we could go back and change something, it would be that. We had to make some changes with substituting and our man-to-man didn’t pan out. It was a credit to their defense for shutting us down in that quarter.”
Ally Becki scored 14 of her team-high 19 points in the first quarter.
“They made some adjustments on Ally and started face guarding her and made her work to get the ball.” Smiley said.
“We just talked about trying to get our momentum back and help Ally get her mojo back,” sophomore QuinciThomas said.
Brownsburg closed the gap to 31-29 after three quarters, but Crown Point regained control in the fourth quarter. Crown Point closed the game with a 6-0 run.
Junior Jessica Carrothers, who was averaging 23.3 points entering the game, sank 11 of 21 shots to lead Crown Point with 25 points.
“We knew she had been getting 20 to 25 points per game,” Smiley said. “But she did a lot of little things well.”
Novalee Glass added 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting for Brownsburg.
Crown Point shot 40.5 percent from the field compared to 31.1 percent for Brownsburg.
Brownsburg did hold a 37-27 edge in rebounds. Thomas led Brownsburg with 10 rebounds and Becki added seven.
Brownsburg had nine turnovers, compared to just five for Crown Point.
