Culver 3/767

McCune’s 18, Davis’ 13 lead Culver to 3-0 start

Val T.
Nov 13
4 min read

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

CULVER — A.J. Neace coaches two different sports at Culver, and he does not lose regular season games in either of them.

Ava McCune scored 18 points, and Brooke Davis added 13, and the Culver girls basketball team forced 26 turnovers in knocking off visiting Tri-Township 43-34 at John R. Nelson Gymnasium Tuesday.

The Lady Cavaliers improved to 3-0 for Neace, in his first season after replacing his brother Adam as head coach after Adam left to take the LaPorte coaching job. Neace is also the girls soccer coach at Culver, where the team went 15-0 in the regular season before finishing 16-1 after a loss to LaVille in the sectional final.

McCune, a sophomore point guard, and Davis, a junior forward, play on both teams for Neace, and they combined for 23 of Culver’s 30 second-half points.

Davis said that Neace has challenged her to score more this year with the graduation of last year’s frontcourt starters Amiyah Williams and Brynn Berndt.

“A lot,” Davis said when asked how much Neace inspires her. “I actually love him as a coach. He’s just like family to me, I guess. He’s hard on us, but we know that once he’s hard on us, we’ve got to get ourselves in gear.”

McCune’s 3-pointer with 3:08 to go in the third quarter put the Lady Cavs ahead for good at 21-18, and she later turned on the jets for a coast-to-coast layup and a five-point lead. Haylie Parker’s deep left corner jumper with her foot on the line capped off a 9-0 run which turned an 18-16 deficit into a 25-18 lead.

Addison Hendrixson scored 22 points, and reserve point guard Lucia Orjas added nine for Tri-Township (1-1).

But the Lady Tigers were bedeviled by Culver’s pressure defense, which forced 26 turnovers. Tri-Township also went just 5 for 13 from the foul line.

Culver dialed up its defensive intensity with McCune and Ashlynn Berndt at guard and the athletic Eliana Andrzejewski at small forward. Sharpshooter Brianna Schlemmer is the lone senior starter.

Culver ranked 11th in the state last year, allowing just 31.9 points per game. Their defensive average is 28.3 so far this season.

“It seemed like we were locked in from the start,” Neace said. “We always like to cause havoc. We like to get after it defensively, and that’s what creates our offense. If we don’t come out with intensity on the defensive end, we’re not going to score very much.”

A Hendrixson runner in the lane and an Orjas scoop shot with one second left in the third quarter got Tri-Township within 25-22, but Culver started the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run in achieving its biggest lead at 10.

McCune hit a 3 from the left wing off an Eliana Andrzejewski assist, Brianna Schlemmer hit a free throw, and Parker found McCune for a layup after an offensive rebound.

Bryleigh Rust scored on a weak side cut after a timeout, but a Davis driving layup and a Davis free throw made it 34-24.

Davis’ putback to finish a two-on-one break later in the quarter made it 37-28, and Culver’s last six points came on free throws.

Hendrixson, a rugged 5-9 forward, scored the game’s first two baskets, but a backcourt steal and layup from Berndt and two steals and layups from McCune gave Culver their first lead. Davis finished a screen-and-roll that she worked with McCune to make it 8-4.

Culver led 10-7 after one quarter, and Schlemmer buried a triple from the right corner to increase the lead to six.

But Culver did not score in the final 7:07 of the half, and Orjas took over. She hit a floater in the lane for a third-chance bucket, scored on a steal and layup, and she hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 left in the half to give the Lady Tigers a 14-13 lead that they took into halftime.

“We wanted to turn up the intensity on the defensive end,” Neace said of halftime adjustments. “Number 12 for them, Orjas, she’s a hell of a little dribbler, and I challenged them at halftime, ‘Hey, keep her in front.’ And I think that caused a lot of turnovers because she had a couple travels and throwaways over her head and stuff like that.”

Davis said that the Lady Cavs are a second-half team.

“I think just being more open and to be more confident dribbling down the floor,” Davis said about halftime adjustments. “And I feel like we always come back out stronger in the second half anyways.”

Culver 43, Tri-Township 34

TRI-TOWNSHIP (34) (1-1)

Lupita Osornio 0 0-0 0, Emily Huhnke 0 0-0 0, Addison Hendrixson 9 4-5 22, Bryleigh Rust 1 0-0 2, Jayden Carr 0 1-4 1, Lucia Orjas 4 0-4 9

TEAM: 14 5-13 34

CULVER (43) (3-0)

Ava McCune 7 2-6 18, Ashlynn Berndt 1 2-2 4, Brianna Schlemmer 1 3-4 6, Eliana Andrzejewski 0 0-0 0, Brooke Davis 5 3-8 13, Hailey Parker 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 15 10-20 43

Three-point field goals:

Tri-Township 1 (Orjas),

Culver 3 (McCune 2, Schlemmer)

Total fouls: Tri-Township 18, Culver 11

Turnovers: Tri-Township 26, Culver 15