By Dee Grenert
Pilot Sports

CULVER — Culver Community’s girls basketball coaching staff spent the first month of the season emphasizing the importance of playing four solid quarters.

The Lady Cavs responded to that message Wednesday against cross-town rival Culver Girls Academy.

Culver seized the upperhand with a 13-2 second-quarter opening stretch and nailed 15 of 18 fourth-frame charity tosses to collect a 53-41 win at John R. Nelson Gymnasium.

“We needed to play four quarters and tonight I think we got the job done,” Culver head coach Andrea Berndt commented. “Now we need to keep playing four quarters and not go backwards.

“Our free-throw shooting percentage has been in the 40s,” Berndt added. “Tonight we shot 80 percent. I think that’s awesome. It’s big time free throws. These girls haven’t been in a lot of situations where they’ve had to hit free throws in the fourth quarter to win. I think they responded tonight.”

Senior guard Emily Keller rattled off a game-high 18 points and chipped in six rebounds and three assists for the Cavs. Keller’s triple with 7:30 left in the first half put Culver up 11-10 and accounted for the contest’s final lead change.

“I’ve actually gotten on Emily to take more shots,” Berndt said. “This year she is shooting more. She’s playing good defense, she’s hitting the boards, she’s handling the ball. She plays a solid basketball game most of the time.”

Brandi Stevens, Keller’s backcourt running mate, fired in 15 points, including 8-for-9 from the charity stripe. Senior Molly Hartman sank all six of her free-throw attempts and provided reliable play off the bench.

“Molly’s done a great job,” Berndt said. “She played mostly JV last year and she was out early on with a wrist fracture. For her to step out, especially on a varsity court, and play like she has is amazing.”

The Cavs also exploited CGA help-side defensive lapses with drives to the basket and lobs to the blocks.

“The girls were seeing some openings on the weak side,” Berndt noted. “We missed some shots on the perimeter early and we reminded them that you can head fake or shot fake, drive and still do some amount of damage. You can still make something happen.”

And what happened was a double-digit Culver lead for much of the second half against a struggling CGA defense.

“There was one drive from the wing that four players didn’t see,” CGA coach Gary Christlieb recalled. “We didn’t execute anything defensively like we needed to and we lost opportunities to score when we had them.”

Sophomore Katie Barnes scored 15 points and snared eight rebounds off the bench for the Eagles. Kylie Hermanson contributed 12 points.

However, the winless Eagles hit just 29 percent from the field and missed several shots in and around the paint.

“That’s the story of our season,” Christlieb lamented. “We haven’t found a way to hit shots. That’s why we’re in the predicament we’re in. You can sum up tonight by saying that our execution in a lot of facets of the game wasn’t very good.

“But I thought Katie played tough and did some good things,” Christlieb continued. “Kylie Hermanson played probably her best game of the season. Even though we only scored 41 points, that was our best offensive output of the season. We’re going to keep plugging at it.”

Culver hosts Knox in the first leg of a boys-girls varsity doubleheader Saturday, while CGA travels to the Western Reserve Academy Tourney this weekend.

CULVER 53, CULVER GIRLS ACADEMY 41
At Culver
CGA (41): Kiley Trennepohl 1 2-2 4, Evan Hoese 0 0-0 0, Angela Carlson 0 1-2 1, Frances Staadt 2 0-0 5, Katie Barnes 7 3-5 17, Cassie Felton 0 0-0 0, Caci Budde 1 0-0 2, Kylie Hermanson 5 0-0 12. TOTALS: 16 6-9 41.
CULVER (53): Emily Keller 6 4-5 18, Tiffany Leyva 3 0-1 6, Molly Hartman 0 6-6 6, Alicia Allen 0 0-0 0, Amber Clingler 0 0-0 0, Brandi Stevens 3 8-9 15, Reannon Lewis 1 0-0 2, Meagan Maes 2 2-4 6. TOTALS: 15 20-25 53.
3-point goals: CGA 3 (Hermanson 2, Staadt), Culver 3 (Keller 2, Stevens); Turnovers: CGA 14, Culver 22; Rebounds: CGA 22 (Barnes 8), CGA 30 (Leyva 9); Assists: CGA 6 (Carlson, Hermanson 2), Culver 7 (Keller 3); Steals: CGA 8 (Barnes 3), CGA 3 (Keller 2); Fouls (fouled out): CGA 21 (none), Culver 13 (none).
Records: CGA 0-8, Culver 3-5.
JV Score: Culver 26, CGA 23.