Bronson pulls away late to defeat Union City in girls hoops action

UNION CITY, MI. — Thursday night the Union City Chargers welcomed the first place team in the Big 8 conference, the Bronson Vikings, to the McNett Fieldhouse for the second meeting between these two Big 8 rivals. The first time these two teams met back on Jan. 3 it was Bronson taking the 76-32 win, the Vikings fifth straight win to kick off the season.

Thursday night the Vikings again took home the victory, defeating Union City by the score of 47-29, but unlike their meeting in early in the year, things were not so easy.

“Hats off to Union City, they really controlled the pace between the hashes tonight,” said Bronson head coach Tony Lasky. “We are a team that plays with a lot of emotion and energy and tonight we just didn’t have any of that. I really can’t pinpoint why, it was just emotionless and flat for us all night, which allowed Union City to really stay with us. We finally picked things up late, pulling away in the fourth there, but I don’t know, we just didn’t show much energy out there.”

Things started out quickly for the Vikings as senior scoring machine Haylie Wilson drilled her first shot of the night, a long two point jumper to give Bronson the 2-0 lead after their first trip down. After that the scoring came at a very slow pace, with both teams battling to find any type of offensive flow, dealing both with the opposing defense and a number of whistles throughout the early going, which disrupted the flow of the game.

Bronson went on to hold a 5-3 lead midway through the quarter thanks to two free throws from Aubree Calloway and a free throw from Helena Eley. Union City’s scoring came thanks to an Aaleya Asher free throw and a Gracie Phelps inside bucket.

Bronson junior guard Brealyn Lasky hit the first triple of the game for the Vikings at the three minute mark, extending the Viking lead to 8-3. Two free throws from Wilson extended the Bronson lead even more at 10-3 until the Chargers finally answered with a deep three pointer from Jordan Chard who benefited greatly from the shooters touch, closing the score to 10-6. A bucket from Payton Springstead extended the Bronson lead to 12-6 after one quarter of play.

Again the scoring came at a very slow pace in the second quarter as Bronson scored the only bucket through the first three minutes of the quarter, extending their lead to 14-6 with five minutes left in the half.

Bronson started to get out and run a little bit near the midway point of the quarter as a Calloway drive and bucket, followed by a Jaiden Hayes steal and bucket in transition, extended the Vikings lead to double digits at 18-6 with four minutes left. The Vikings pushed that lead to 20-6 with a pair of Ashlynn Harris free throws at the three minute mark.

Union City finally got back on the board at 2:45 as Gracie Phelps pulled down an offensive rebound and hit the tough put back, closing the score to 20-8.

Bronson’s final points of the half came on a Harris three pointer while Union City’s final points came on a pair of Makenzie Hale free throws, sending the game to the half at 25-10.

Union City rattled off a 5-0 run to start the second half thanks to a Carley Gordon three pointer and a Chard jumper, closing the score to 25-15 just a minute into the second half.

Despite Bronson’s best efforts at pulling away the Chargers refused to go away, keeping the deficit at 10 points throughout much of the third quarter. Bronson looked to pull away leading 27-17 with an Ava Hathaway triple from the wing, giving the Vikings a 30-17 lead with two minutes left in the quarter.

Union City got back on the board with two Phelps free throws, only to be answered by another dagger of a three pointer from Hathaway, finding the score of 33-19 after three quarters of play.

Bronson finally started to get their respective feet underneath them early in the fourth quarter, using a tough inside game mixed with some clutch three pointers from Hathaway and Harris to begin to pull away. The Harris three pointer at the 4:30 mark pushed the Bronson lead to 20 points as the score stood at 43-22.

Union City refused to quit and got some late buckets from Asher and Chard and a handful of free throws from Addy Rumsey, finding their final score of 29 points. Bronson however was in firm control in the later stages, using free throws and a bucket from Wilson to essentially put things officially away, finding the final score of 47-29.

“You know we have a big target on our backs right now and teams are going to give us everything they’ve got, which is what Union City did tonight,” said Lasky. “I don’t think we necessarily overlooked them but I think the effort from some wasn’t there based on how we played them last time. The girls need to realize that you have to bring your best game every single time you take the floor because it’s games like this where a team can sneak up and get you. We came out of here with the win and I really hope we learned something from how things went down tonight.”

Bronson was led on the night by Haylie Wilson who had 10 points, the lone Viking in double figures. Wilson also added three rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot in the victory.

Sophomore Ava Hathaway poured in nine points thanks to a trio of three pointers, while also adding three rebounds and two assists while Ashlynn Harris added nine points to go with two rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Also adding to the Bronson victory was Payton Springstead with eight points, 11 rebounds and one steal; Aubree Calloway with six points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks; Brealyn Lasky with three points, one rebound and four steals; Jaiden Hayes with two points and one steal; Ryleigh Fee with one rebound; and Helena Eley with one point, four rebounds and two blocks.

Union City was led on the night by Jordan Chard who had eight points, four rebounds, one steal and two assists.

Also putting together a solid all-around game was freshman Gracie Phelps who had six points, nine rebounds, one steal and one assist

Also adding to the Charger effort was Aaelya Asher with six points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist; Addy Rumsey with four points and two rebounds; Carley Gordon with three points, six rebounds and one steal; Natalie Needham with one rebound; Lily Eyre with one steal; Nevada Gillons with one steal and one rebound; and Makenzie Hale with two points and one steal.

“I told the girls tonight to just go out and have fun, especially after that tough loss on Tuesday (versus Quincy),” said Union City head coach Tony Gordon. “We know Bronson is a great shooting team so we came in and tried to shake things up and play our game, not let what they were doing dictate what we did, and it really was amazing to see what the girls were able to do today. They played really well, I mean that right there is the best team in the Big 8 and I thought we played great tonight. We just need to take the momentum gained from this effort and continue it heading forward.”

With the loss Union City falls to 2-14 overall on the season and 0-10 in the Big 8 conference. The Chargers will see action again next Thursday when they travel to Reading to take on the Rangers.

Bronson meanwhile improves to 14-1 overall on the year and 10-0 in the Big 8 conference. The Vikings will next see action Tuesday when they travel to Adrian Lenawee Christian, followed by a home game on Thursday versus Homer. Bronson will cap off a busy week next week with a rare Saturday game as they will head to Niles Brandywine to face the 11-2 Bobcats.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Bronson pulls away late to defeat Union City in girls hoops action