Bronaugh's unbeaten streak snapped

BRONAUGH, Mo. -- In a battle of state-ranked Class 1 teams, Bronaugh had no answer for Golden City's second-half onslaught.

The No. 6-ranked Wildcats suffered their first defeat of the season in a 57-36 loss to No. 5 Golden City on Friday.

Combating matchup problems throughout with Golden City's superior height and depth, the Wildcats were competitive in the first half. Bronaugh (9-1) trailed by only two at halftime, 23-21.

With both teams a bit tight early, the Wildcats broke to an 8-3 first-quarter advantage as Golden City failed to score a field goal until about the 1:50 mark of the period.

Jack Daniels' conventional 3-point play early in the second quarter opened Bronaugh's biggest lead of the evening at 11-3.

Then the Eagles (7-1), responding to coach Todd McCoskey's verbal prodding, began to chip away at the deficit. The Eagles' full-court press began to create turnovers.

"We executed terribly against their press," said Bronaugh coach Tim Judd. "Generally, we like for teams to press us because we usually get a lot of transition baskets."

Fatigue, a byproduct of the press, also became a factor for the Wildcats' six-man rotation. Substituting liberally with 10 players, the Eagles kept fresh legs on the court.

"We're used to playing about seven people," said Judd, "but because the game was so physical and we tried to compete on every possession, we did wear down a little bit more than we normally would."

Adding to the Wildcat woes was the absence of their tallest player, 6-3 senior center John Whitworth, who suffered a torn thumb ligament in practice earlier in the week.

Minus Whitworth, much of the inside boardwork and defense fell on the shoulders of 6-1 Tyler Judd and 6-foot Jack Daniels against Golden City's 6-4 sophomore postman Nate Peterson and a pair of 6-2 forwards.

Golden City, with Peterson scoring and working the boards, pulled into the first tie of the game at 19-all with less than two minutes to go in the first half. They rode that second-quarter momentum swing to a 9-2 run to open the third period.

A 14-6 third-quarter Eagle advantage increased the lead to 37-27 going into the final quarter, then a 10-0 run midway of the quarter literally put the Wildcats away.

Said (Tim) Judd, "With Whitworth not in the game, we had absolutely no offensive rebounding tonight and that's his strength. The second half they got a lot of second and third chances that maybe they wouldn't have gotten with him in there."

Daniels led Bronaugh with 14 points. Leading scorer (Tyler) Judd, forced into a different role by necessity, managed only eight, a season-low. Alex Gordon contributed six.

Golden City, with three players in double figures, was led by guard Eric Ansley with17. Peterson finished with 12 and Matt Webb added 11.

There was some good news for Bronaugh fans. A late-game ankle injury to Bronaugh's Judd, which didn't allow him to return, was not considered serious enough to cause any lost time, at least, in the preliminary diagnosis. Also, Whitworth is expected back, probably as early as next week for the Golden City Tournament and a possible rematch.

JV game

Bronaugh boys junior varsity went down to a 47-38 defeat to Golden City.

Joshua Shaw led the Wildcats with 15, while Shaun Gray added 10.

Lady Wildcats

The Golden City varsity girls completed the three-game sweep with a 43-32 win over Bronaugh.

The winless Lady Wildcats (0-10) fought valiantly, however, pulling to within two points late in the second period before settling for a five-point halftime deficit at 20-15. With the Lady Eagle lead as much as 17 in the final quarter, Bronaugh used a late-game charge to trim the final margin to 11.

Brittany Mart and Jessica Langford paced the Lady Wildcats with 11 and Nine points, respectively.