The Brookings basketball teams split a doubleheader against Tea Area on Monday night at Bob Jostad Gymnasium.

The Brookings girls remained unbeaten with a 34-24 win over the Titans. The boys are still in search of their first victory as they fell to Tea 68-38.

Girls

Brookings 34, Tea Area 24

It wasn’t pretty, but the Brookings girls’ basketball team beat Tea Area 34-24 in a defensive battle on Monday night.

The Bobcats (4-0) got out to a fast start as they outscored the Titans 12-3 in the first quarter. Tea would then cut the lead to 12-7 but Brookings pushed the lead to 20-10 by halftime.

Brookings kept Tea at arms length for most of the third quarter. Anna Binde made a three with 1:08 left to cut the Bobcat lead to seven, but Logan Smidt answered with a triple of her own 12 seconds later and Brookings took a 30-20 lead into the fourth.

Tea scored the first four points of the fourth and cut the Brookings lead to 30-24 with just over four minutes to play. Macy Even then grabbed a rebound off of a missed free throw and put in a lay up. Tess Burns followed with a lay up of her own to push the lead to 34-24 and that was enough to seal the win.

Brookings head coach Mitch McLagan said he liked the way his team played down the stretch.

“That’s been really good to see because we haven’t always had that in the past. You can really see the maturity of our team. [Tea] hit a big shot to cut it to seven, next possession we hit a three. Our kids, we’ve been working on it, but they’ve done a really good job of staying even. Not getting too high and not getting too low, and that’s how you win those games late,” McLagan said.

The Bobcats have 10 upperclassmen on their team. McLagan said he thinks that’s what makes Brookings so good late in games.

“We play a bunch of kids with a lot of varsity experience and I think that’s a big part of it. We have a couple of really good leaders too, that can be coaches on the court, and I think that helps us get settled down in a moment where the crowd is loud and they bring a lot of pressure. Our kids did a great job with that [tonight],” McLagan said.

Brookings shot 25% from the field and were 4-of-13. The Bobcats had 25 turnovers. McLagan said he thought Tea put pressure on his offense and that made things tough for the Bobcats on that side of the floor.

“I thought [Tea] did a really good job of taking us out of our offense. They kind of sped us up and put a bunch of pressure on us. They were flying around pretty good and it sped us up a bit. We just weren’t really good on the offensive end, but we missed a lot of shots around the rim and I think if a couple of those fall, the score looks a little different,” McLagan siad.

Brookings was led by Even who had 12 points and four rebounds. Smidt had 11 points and eight rebounds. Burns had eight points and 10 boards.

The Bobcats held Tea to 21.1% shooting from the field and the Titans were 6-of-26 from three. Tea had 27 turnovers. Binde led the Titans with 12 points.

Brookings held a 38-28 advantage in rebounding. The Bobcats were 2-of-4 at the free throw line and the Titans were 8-of-17.

The Bobcats will take their unbeaten record to Sioux Falls on Tuesday night and they’ll take on No. 1 ranked O’Gorman. McLagan said facing the Knights is going to be a challenge but he feels like his team is connected enough to put up a strong fight.

“We have a bunch of kids that play for each other. We don’t have selfishness in our group. Our group likes being together and they like playing together. When you have that cohesiveness, it just makes things easier, especially when you get in tight games like this. They’re there for each other. We had some kids that had a bad night and our kids are there for them, and I think that’s a big reason why we’re 4-0 right now. The road doesn’t get easier. We play No. 1 O’Gorman on the road tomorrow. So, we’re going to celebrate this one tonight and then get back to work in the morning,” McLagan said.

Boys

Tea Area 68, Brookings 38

Tea Area ran away from Brookings in the boys game on Monday night as the Titans came away with a 68-38 victory.

Brookings led 5-0 but Tea then went on a 21-7 run to take a 21-12 lead into the second quarter. The Titans pushed the lead to 33-15 but Brookings was able to go on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 33-23. Tea led 37-25 at halftime.

It was a tough third quarter for the ‘Cats as they were outscored 21-7 and Tea led 58-32 heading into the fourth. Brookings head coach Mike McCarty said the Titans pressure that they put on the Bobcats defensively is what led to Tea pulling away in the third.

“Their defensive pressure got up and caused turnovers and that led to fast break points and that really pushed the advantage out. I thought we did a good job coming back, we had it back down to 12 at halftime. But in the third quarter, it was a little bit more of the same. They got after us and we didn’t handle the press and the pressure like we needed to,” McCarty said.

Brookings shot 31.7% from the field and were 3-of-16 from three. The Bobcats were led by Jones Huntimer and Bergan Tetzlaff who each had 10 points.

Tea shot 47.4% from the field and was 7-of-21 from three. Marshall Smythe and Jaxson Merrigan each had 14 points to lead the Titans. Gavin Shawd had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Grifin Wiebenga had 11 points.

Brookings is now 0-4 on the season and hosts O’Gorman on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. McCarty said his team is going to have to play a lot better against the Knights because they’re just as good as the Titans.

“O’Gorman is a really good team and they just matched up with Tea last week and it was a two-point game. So, we’ll be anticipating the defenses and pressures that we saw tonight. [With their offense], we’re going to need to guard the basketball, keep them out of the paint and get back in transition,” McCarty said.