Jonas Emilsson
www.KramMag.com

It took the St. Francis Browns about two-and-half quarter to get their high-octane offense to function the way it normally does.

After playing the feisty Centennial Coyotes to a 35-35 half-time score, the Browns put the pedal to the metal in the third quarter and coasted to a 76-63 win to capture senior girls’ Div I title.

The two teams faced each other earlier this season in tournament play, and the result was a near mirror image of how the city final game played out.

“The score was pretty much tied at half and then we pulled ahead to win by 20 in the second half,” said Browns’ head coach Allison Van de Laak. “We’re a little bit of a second-half team.”

Guard Cassidy Osterling scored a game-high 26 points for the Browns and post Florence Oloya chipped in with 15 points and double-digit rebounds.

Stephanie Loubardeas led the Coyotes with 17 points.

The season finale was a matchup between two teams that were heads and shoulders above the rest of the competition this season.

Coming in to Saturday night’s game, the two teams owned a combined 24-0 record through the regulars season and playoffs.

But somebody’s perfect season had to come to an end on this night, and up until the Browns’ scoring outburst in the third quarter, it was anyone’s guess as to who would be coming away victorious.

But according to Van de Laak, her teams ability to maintain composure is a major reason for their success this season.

“Our girls came out willing to be patient, we knew this game was going to be a close one and they knew that if they lost their composure early that they would lose their game,” said Van de Laak. “They kept their composure and they just worked at it basket by basket and played steady defense and that made the difference in the game, they kept their composure.”

As good as the Browns’ offense was in the second half, Van de Laak credits her team’s defense for getting the momentum squarely on their side.

Our defense stepped it up in the second half,” said the first-year head coach. “WE also hit a couple of outside shots thanks to Cassidy Osterling, and that made their defense come out, which opened it up some inside opportunities for us.”

Along with Osterling’s brilliant guard play, the strength of the Browns is their impressive inside game spearheaded by 6’1” Oloya and 6’3” Arianne Sakundiak.

The twin towers controlled the inside of the paint to perfection, making life miserable for any Coyote player that ventured into the paint in hopes of a scoring a bucket.

“Wow,” said Van de Laak when asked about the play of her two post players. “Huge presence today.”

Their major assignment for the game was to limit the damages caused by Coyotes’ inside threat Jordan Gray.

We put Florence on number 23(Gray) and told her to bug the heck out of her, and she did that for us,” said Van de Laaak. “She did that for us, she took her out of the game pretty much, and she’s one of their biggest scorers and Arianne was the support on the help side.”