Bluejay Basketball
Bluejays Fly over the Eagles
By Brielle Unseld
The Pierce Bluejays defeated the O’Neill Eagles 46-40 in the intense C1-8 sub-district final on Thursday, February 23.
Starting out in the first quarter, the Bluejays came out hot with 14 points on the scoreboard and held the Eagles to only four points.
Head coach Mike Emory remarks, “We battled on the defensive end for four quarters and played great team defense and were able to make our free throws in the end. The boys will have the same mindset as they have all year, out prepare them before the game gets here and play extremely hard!”
In the second quarter, the Bluejays fought hard to score another eight points while the Eagles added 13 to their score.
Coming out from halftime, the O’Neill boys scored nine points with Pierce struggling offensively, adding only five points to the scoreboard.
In the final quarter, Pierce pushed through with a strong mindset, putting up 17 points. The Eagles fought back with 14 points.
Benjamin Brahmer had a great night with 26 points, followed by Jacksen Wachholtz with nine points and Abram Scholting with eight. Addison Croghan put up two points and Colby Anderson scored one point.
Anderson, a senior, comments, “We’ve been making it a point that we need to continue to get off to a good start. Our defense was solid the whole game, so that helped to keep us strong down the stretch. To push through the postseason, we’ve been getting a lot of shots up during practice and have prepared well for our opponents.”
This game boosted the record to 22-3 for the Bluejays.
Pierce Bluejays Beat Out Battle Creek Braves
By Autumn Lambrecht
On February 21, the Pierce Bluejays dominated the Battle Creek Braves in the first round of sub-districts, keeping the win on home court with the score 47-25.
In the first quarter, the Pierce Bluejays came out strong and put up 13 points right away, while keeping the Battle Creek Braves to 11 points.
Entering the second quarter, the Bluejays grabbed hold of a strong lead, and scored 16 points on the Brave defense and limited the Braves to only scoring two points. The Bluejays secured their lead, ending the first half, 29-13.
Head coach Mike Emory comments, “We turned up our defensive intensity which led to some easy baskets and also shared the ball well on the offensive end.”
Coming back for the third quarter, this was the closest quarter of the game with both the Bluejays and the Braves scoring nine points, bringing the score up to 38-22, with Bluejays still keeping the lead.
For the fourth quarter, the Bluejays again held down the Braves to only scoring three points for their last game, while the Bluejays scored nine, for the final score of 47-25, and advancing to the second round of sub-districts.
Senior Benjamin Brahmer adds, “We played really well as a team and executed our sets great. Our defense was good after the first quarter.”
Throughout the night, Abram Scholting was the lead scorer with 19, Brahmer following behind with 10, Deon Watts with eight, Addison Croghan put up four, and Colby Anderson, Champion White, and Brock Collison all contributed two.
The team had an overall of 10 defensive rebounds and 10 steals against the Braves.
The Bluejays will continue to move onto the second round of sub-districts.
