Brandenburg pulls off three-peat with JAAKE
By BRIAN KESSLER
Assistant Sports Editor
When Erin Brandenburg took the court in the finals of Bookstore Basketball XXIX, she had one thought in mind — three-peat.
And Sunday, the third-year law student surely played like it.
Brandenburg poured in eight points to lead No. 1 JAAKE to a 21-9 victory over No. 2 Muffet's Second String in a hard fought game that took more than an hour to complete.
"I think the difference was experience," said Brandenburg, who captured her third straight women's Bookstore title. "Kelli Moran and I won it last year and Amy Anderson and I won the year before. So we definitely had experience on our side."
JAAKE took advantage of that experience early on. Brandenburg and Moran were on fire from the outside and JAAKE jumped out to a 6-0 lead.
"We didn't know how we would do against their zone, so it was tough early on," Brandenburg said. "We started to make a run and then they switched to man and we knew we could play against man defense."
Freshman Kaitlin McEwen finally got Muffet's Second String on the scoreboard and Colleen Sullivan added a jumper to cut the lead to 6-2.
JAAKE, however, went on a 5-0 run to close the half. Brandenburg drained two long range shots and Abby Coons, Jen Stefanski and Anderson each added a bucket to give JAAKE an 11-2 advantage at the break.
Early in the second half, Muffet's Second String found themselves in foul trouble, but JAAKE couldn't capitalize. JAAKE bricked three free throws and Muffet's Second String started to gain some confidence.
Sophomore Meg Reynders of Muffet's Second String opened the second half with a sweet drive and lay-up. Then McEwen, Sullivan and Holly Hoffman got in on the action, rattling off three straight hoops to make a game of it. Reynders scored again to cap the 5-0 run and cut the lead to 11-7. JAAKE, however, struggled shooting at the rock at its second half rim.
"I was getting sick to my stomach [when they made that run]," Brandenburg said. "We were taking some good shots, but the lid wouldn't come off the rim. We were able to stick together though and hang in there and eventually we were able to break them down. We knew we were playing good defense and so if they were going to come back it was going to take a long time."
JAAKE eventually settled down and Moran finally put an end to Muffet's Second String's run. JAAKE stepped up the intensity on defense and held its opponent to just two points down the stretch. McEwen scored twice for Muffet's Second String, but missed free throw and poor execution led to its demise.
JAAKE took advantage of turnovers and fast break opportunities to close out the victory. Brandenburg's drives and Anderson's rebound baskets accounted for seven of JAAKE's second half points. Moran finally ended it with a game-winning free throw.
Brandenburg led the way for JAAKE with a game high eight points.
"That was rare," Brandenburg said. "Usually everyone else steps up, but today, my teammates were making good passes and I was hitting my shots in the first half. Then we really got our fast break going in the second half."
Moran scored five points for JAAKE and Amy Anderson had four. Kaitlin McEwen scored a team-high four points in a losing effort for Muffet's Second String.
"It was fun out there; I really had a blast," Brandenburg said. "They were tough. But we all wanted this bad and we came out and really played well as a team."
JAAKE advanced to the championship game with a 21-12 over No. 4 Silk Puppets in Friday's semifinal game. Muffet's Second String made it to the finals with a win over No. 6 No Name but Got Game.
All Sports Stories for Monday, May 1, 2000
