Coward delivers in clutch for Buhach Colony girls

After being out in front for the first 29 minutes on Thursday night, the Buhach Colony High girls basketball team suddenly found itself down a point with just over two minutes to play.

Thunder head coach Shane Gentry turned to senior Brandy Coward.

Frustrated by a tightly-officiated contest and a rough shooting night, Coward rose to the occasion. She scored eight of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, including a layup that put BC back up for good with 1:48 to play. The rest of the Thunder followed her lead, closing out the 64-57 victory with a 10-2 run at the Nest.

The win gives Buhach Colony (11-9, 3-2 CCC) sole possession of the Central California Conference’s third and final playoff spot and keeps it in striking distance of Golden Valley and Merced heading into the second half of league play.

“I wasn’t real happy with my play going into the fourth quarter,” said Coward, who also had five rebounds and five steals. “I felt like I’d missed a lot of layups and was pretty frustrated.

“I kind of needed to get out of my own head, and coach was able to help me do that. I was proud of the way we responded when they took that lead and was pleased I was able to help my teammates out when it mattered.”

In typical rivalry fashion, the game was physical, often played at a frenetic pace and full of major momentum swings.

It was all Thunder out of the gate, completely dismantling the Atwater offense in the opening quarter. BC pressed the Falcons into 12 early turnovers, turning them into a 16-7 lead after one quarter.

Kaelee Lynch had eight of her 17 points in the opening half as the Thunder pushed their lead to 28-18 in the second quarter.

With a number of starters struggling, Atwater (14-7, 2-3 CCC) got a big answer from its bench. Aimee Mendoza drilled a three-pointer and Jackie Magana added a pair of free throws as the Falcons closed the half with an 8-1 run, trimming the lead to 29-26 at the break.

“I was really pleased with our energy out of the gate,” Gentry said. “Then the way they started calling the game kind of took that away from us. We got in foul trouble, both teams did, and that slowed everything down.”

Atwater’s Brittany Massa caught fire in the third quarter, scoring eight of her 10 points, but Buhach answered. Lynch and Lauren Scambray both hit 3s as BC pushed its lead to 49-42 heading into the fourth.

The Falcons wouldn’t go away, however, and began chipping away at the Thunder lead once more. Martiza Hernandez (nine points) drilled a short jumper to bring Atwater within one with 2:48 to play, and Chynna Peterson (10 points) gave the Falcons their first lead with a jumper from the free-throw line of the very next possession.

They wouldn’t hold it long as Coward answered right back. Atwater rushed its next two possessions as BC scored six unanswered points to pull away for good.

“I don’t know if it’s the big crowd or just the moment, but we tend to panic with the game up for grabs,” Atwater coach J.R. Davis said. “We still had a chance, but we forced up a couple bad possessions and the game got away from us in the last minute.”

This story was originally published January 22, 2015 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Coward delivers in clutch for Buhach Colony girls."