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Freshmen McCune, A. Berndt combine for 30
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
CULVER — The Culver girls basketball team was coming off a 36-29 loss to South Central (Union Mills) Saturday in which they did not bring the energy.
Coach Adam Neace addressed the lack of energy with the team, and they did something about it against visiting Trinity Greenlawn at John R. Nelson Gymnasium Monday.
Point guard Ava McCune scored 18 points, and fellow freshman Ashlynn Berndt added 12 as the Lady Cavaliers routed the Lady Titans 64-21.
Brooke Davis added eight points, and Brynn Berndt contributed seven points and 10 rebounds for Culver, who improved to 4-5.
The 64 points were the most Culver has scored in a game since scoring 70 against Oregon-Davis in January 2023. It marked just the seventh time in the last 10 years that Culver has scored more than 60 points in a game.
Morgan Scroope and Natalie Gabrielse had five points each for Trinity Greenlawn, who fell to 3-7.
Trinity Greenlawn committed 35 turnovers against Culver’s 2-3 zone trap.
“It was really good tonight,” Neace said of the defense. “I thought Ava McCune was exceptional, and I thought Ashlynn and Brooke really brought some good stuff too, and we mixed them at guard and forward. I really felt we played tenacious defense today.”
The ballhawking freshman guards feasted off Trinity Greenlawn’s mistakes, which set off the Culver fast break.
“Tonight was the best we’ve had it all year, to be honest with you,” Neace said of the transition offense. “We had our guards filling lanes. We had our dunker running down the floor the middle of the lane. Tonight it looked our best. Again, if we can take that going forward, there’s a lot of success coming our way.”
Culver started the game on an 11-2 run. McCune had seven points in the first quarter on three layups on the break and a free throw.
They shut out Trinity Greenlawn in the second quarter, which included a Maddy Hamilton 3-pointer, and they turned that into a 17-0 run that extended into the third quarter that bumped the lead to 36-9.
Brynn Berndt hit a pullup 3-pointer in the first minute of the third quarter, and McCune outscored the entire Trinity Greenlawn team 8-6 in the quarter, which included her waiting at midcourt for the ball to roll to her on an inbounds pass and then driving to the basket for a buzzer-beating layup.
Culver also closed the game on a 12-0 run. Ashlynn Berndt outscored the entire Trinity Greenlawn team 9-6 in the fourth quarter, which included two steals and fast breaks layups and a banked-in triple.
“They had a 2-3 trap, and they were intense, and they created havoc,” Trinity Greenlawn coach Katherine Alexander said.
Culver was playing their fourth game in six days. Neace said the tempo was “night and day” as compared to the South Central game.
“I believe it tired them a lot tonight. I think us getting up in the fullcourt, and again even what we did in the halfcourt, just pressure-wise, trapping… it really sped them up and again made them make decisions they didn’t want to make tonight.”
Culver 64, Trinity Greenlawn 21
TRINITY GREENLAWN (21) (3-7)
Charis Balsbaugh 1 0-0 3, Natalie Gabrielse 2 0-0 5, Morgan Scroope 2 1-2 5, Audrey Lee 1 2-2 4, Paetra Bartek 0 0-0 0, Lauren Urbanski 1 0-0 3, Kendall Kuhns 0 0-0 0, Magnolia Cory 0 0-0 0, Madonna Drake 0 0-0 0, Abby Kottkamp 0 1-2 1, Charis Gabrielse 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 7 4-6 21
CULVER (64) (4-5)
Ava McCune 8 2-5 18, Ashlynn Berndt 3 5-6 12, Brynn Berndt 3 0-0 7, Brooke Davis 4 0-0 8, Amiyah Williams 1 0-0 2, Maddy Hamilton 2 0-0 5, Brianna Schlemmer 2 0-0 6, Eliana Andrzejewski 0 0-0 0, Chloe Lewis 3 0-0 6
TEAM: 26 7-11 64
Three-point field goals:
Trinity Greenlawn 3 (N. Gabrielse, Urbanski, Balsbaugh),
Culver 5 (Schlemmer 2, B. Berndt, A. Berndt, Hamilton)
Total fouls: Trinity Greenlawn 10, Culver 15
Turnovers: Trinity Greenlawn 35, Culver 15
Score by quarters
Trinity Greenlawn 9 0 6 6 – 21
Culver 19 10 19 16 – 64
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