BonnerSprings.com

Those who watched the Bonner Springs girls play basketball for much of this season had to have shared a common thought Friday night: Where has this team been?

The Bravettes started the season frustratingly slow and opened 2010 on an eight-game losing streak. Since then, they’ve been red-hot and won three of their last four. The latest came Friday night at the Bonner Springs YMCA as the Bravettes dismantled rival Mill Valley, 57-36.

It was the latest in a string of solid performances that seem to validate that the team has not only turned a corner, but that it could also do some postseason damage.

“Going into tonight, our goal was to finish strong,” BSHS coach Clay Oakes said. “Our goal was to win the last three games. Even though the season got off to a rocky start and there have been some growing pains, looking at substate we were sitting as the number five team going into tonight and one game out of fourth. We’ve got a good chance if we can close out the deal here to go from being nowhere to hosting the first round of substate here in our building. That’s what we’re looking for right now is to host the first round of substate and close out strong.”

There has been no doubt the last few games that the Bravettes are closing out strong. Against Mill Valley, they were strong from start to finish.

Mill Valley held its only lead of the game at 3-0, but the Bravettes rallied for a 9-7 lead by the end of the quarter as four different players scored.

Then they opened the second quarter on a 16-5 run. They forced six turnovers during that stretch and turned them into 10 points.

“Our defense … it was phenomenal,” Oakes said. “We calculated that we had 15 steals tonight, and that second quarter was all driven by steals and getting the ball up the court and using our speed at the guard position to get some easy lay-ins.”

Sophomore point guard Yessenia Hernandez led the up-tempo offense at a furious pace, and eight different Bravettes scored during the quarter. They took a double-digit lead on a 16-foot jumper by senior guard Lynsey Ostman with 3:10 to go in the quarter, and they maintained a lead of 10 or more the rest of the game.

BSHS led 27-16 at halftime.

“At halftime, we talked about keeping the pedal to the medal and not giving them a chance in the second half to gain some confidence,” Oakes said. “We talked about going out and trying to put it to them in the second half.”

That’s exactly what the Bravettes did.

They traded baskets with Mill Valley for much of the third quarter and carried a 41-29 lead into the fourth. Hernandez had back-to-back steals to start the quarter as BSHS unleashed a 14-2 run and pressed the lead to 24 points before coasting to the finish.

Bonner Springs turned the ball over just eight times all game compared to 22 for Mill Valley.

Nicole Garretson and Erin Graviette led MVHS with seven points apiece.

Hernandez paced BSHS with 12 points, freshman guard Haley Hoffine scored 11, junior forward Chelsea Crawford scored six and sophomore Erin Marx added six in the victory.

Bonner Springs (6-12) next plays at 6 p.m. Tuesday at home against Santa Fe Trail and then closes out the regular season Friday, Feb. 26, at Basehor-Linwood.

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