by After graduating 3 key starters last spring in Grace Simon, Lauren Galaska and Allison Milligan, the “new look” Bulldogs looked like the team of old with a tremendous effort tonight on the road. They defeated the Titans of Berea-Midpark 53-36 to start their season.
All four returning focal points of last years team looked strong again tonight. Sara Glover had 9 points, Paige Kohler had 10 points and also made plays all over the court. Lauren Noernberg had 6 and Mia Kalich had 13 with 10 coming in the second half. Also, a welcome addition to the offense is Danielle Cameron who led the Bulldogs with 15 points and had several big shots.
The Lady Titans were led by Kendall Braaten with 20 points. I can already tell that Braaten will be taking the SWC by storm this season. She has every tool to lead and score at will. With her and Paige Kohler on the court at the same time tonight, it featured two of the conferences very best. Braaten is a welcome addition to the SWC fold as her 20 points led all scorers tonight.
Also scoring for the Titans were Kierney Murphy with 6, Lauren Lantow with 5, while Courtney Simon and Lauren Yee had 2 each. The Titans were held to 36 tonight, but I can tell you right now, that type of thing will be rare this season with the sharpshooters on that team.
Danielle Cameron hit a three ball seconds into the game, which lit the fuse to the Bulldog offense that ran out to a quick 12-0 lead in the first 3 minutes of the game. It was a stretch that saw Cameron score 9, while Paige Kholer had 2 and Mia Kalich had 1 in the flurry of points.
The Lady Titans Kendall Braaten stopped the run with a powerful drive to the bucket, making the shot and drawing the foul. Braaten would sink the foul shot cutting the lead to 12 -3, it would account for all 3 of the Titans first quarter points as the Bulldogs led 16-3 after one. The Bulldogs spread the ball around very nicely in the first as Lauren Noernberg, Danielle Cameron, Mia Kalich and Paige Kohler all scored.
Quick buckets by Sara Glover and Danielle Cameron to start the second quarter would run the lead out to 20-3 for Olmsted Falls. It was Kendall Braaten again to stop the run by burying a three from the corner to cut into the lead at 20-6. Kendall has the shot form and overall athletic ability to not only be a leader on the Titans this season, but the entire SWC.
With a little over 5 minutes to go in the half and the Bulldogs up 21-6, Paige Kohler forced a steal on the defensive end, raced down the court and then made a beautiful pass to a streaking Danielle Cameron to increase the lead to 23-6. It was the kind of play that has Paige on our early list of possible MVP candidates as this season begins. Clearly this is only game one for the Bulldogs, and we are just beginning, but if Paige makes those type of plays all year, the Bulldogs will be incredibly tough to deal with.
Speaking of Paige and Kendall, they would combine for the games next five points as Kendall hit a nice jumper and then Paige buried a three ball. The exchange made it 26 – 8 with 4:22 to go in the quarter. Braaten had all 8 Titans points at that point and scored 13 of their 16 first half points. The Titans finished the quarter on a 8-4 run to close out the half and trail 30-16 at the break.
The Titans came out red hot to start the second half. Three balls by Lauren Lantow and Kendall Braaten were part of an 8 -4 run to cut the lead to 34-24. It was the closest the Titans had been in quite some time. Olmsted Falls would settle things down and take a 40-28 lead into the final quarter.
A Kierney Murphy three ball with 5:15 left in the game, would make it 44-34 and give the Titans hope at a comeback, but once again the Bulldogs would take over and regain control. The Bulldogs would finish the game on a 9 – 2 run to win 53-36.
