By Noah Dalton
BROWNSTOWN – Coming off a tough start to their season that has seen the team yet to pick up their first victory after five games, Mitchell hit the road on Friday to take on Brownstown-Central, who entered the game unbeaten at 2-0.
Unfortunately for the Bluejackets, they were unable to buck the trend, falling in defeat 50-14 after struggling throughout the night to find offense.
Those struggles were perhaps the most apparent in the second half, where Mitchell managed to score just one basket, a three-pointer from Paisley Modglin that came near the midway point of the fourth quarter.
The Bluejackets scored the game’s first points, those coming from an early bucket from Anna Sowders, who finished the night as Mitchell’s top scorer with five points.
That lead was short-lived, with the Braves storming back with nine unanswered points, taking control of the game and holding it until the final buzzer.
The ended the half up 38-11, eventually expanding their lead beyond the 35-point threshold to initiate a running clock mercy rule with three minutes left in the third quarter.
Brownstown had two scorers in double-figures, Harley Toppe, with 14 and Sophie Wischmeier, who added 13.
Modglin, Gwen Eastridge and Asiah Saunders each scored three for the Bluejackets.
“We just have to keep getting better. We’re not looking at the opponent across from us,” said Mitchell head coach Dakota Brasher.
After a loss on Tuesday night against Loogootee, Brasher said the team placed an emphasis on fundamentals in the practices leading up to the game, something that he felt paid off for his squad in the form of notable improvements despite the result.
“We had a big focus on just very fundamental things this week and we got better over two days, and we saw a lot of that tonight. The scoreboard might not show it, but we were more fundamentally sound tonight,” he said.
“Jump stops, proper pivots, not traveling, making the pass with the right hand, knowing when to throw a bounce pass, knowing when to throw a chest pass. Just very simple offensive things.”
There won’t be time to dwell on the result for the Bluejackets, as they’ll be back on the road again the following night to take on Barr-Reeve (0-2).
Brasher will be looking to see how his team responds against the Vikings.
“We’ll see how tough we are tomorrow. It’s tough playing playing back to backs. They’re tough. Bodies are going to be hurting. We’re going to be sore. How do you come out and respond a little adversity? We’ll see what we’re made of tomorrow. We’re ready for the challenge,” said Brasher.
