TROY — Fort Loramie senior Collen Brandewie said winning a fourth consecutive district championship will always rank among the best memories of her playing career.
Celebrating with her sister on the court at Troy High School’s Trojan Activities Center after the game is a big reason why.
Brandewie led the defending state champion Redskins with 14 points in a 60-27 win over Bradford in a Division IV district final on Saturday in Troy. It’s the program’s fifth consecutive district title and regional berth.
“We’ve worked really hard to get here,” Brandewie said. “All the girls before us were great leaders, so we just want to keep that expectation of making it to districts and winning by working hard every day.”
While Brandewie has been a part of the postgame celebrations the last four years in Troy, she was joined for the first time on Saturday by her younger sister Avery, a freshman forward who’s become one of the squad’s go-to players off the bench.
Avery Brandewie scored eight points on Saturday and had a team-high 11 rebounds.
“I love playing with her,” Colleen Brandewie said. “I feel like I’ve taken her under my wing. It’s really awesome to play with your younger sister. We argue a little bit every once in a while, but we love it; we love playing with each other.”
The Redskins (25-1), which were ranked No. 1 in D-IV in the final Associated Press state poll, cruised through sectional and district tournament play with running-clock margins in each of their four wins.
Brandewie said they know things will be tougher in regional matchups this week at Vandalia-Butler’s Student Activity Center.
Fort Loramie will face Cincinnati Country Day (19-5) in a regional semifinal on Thursday night. If victorious, the squad will advance to a regional final on Saturday afternoon in Vandalia and will most likely face Tri-Village (24-2).
“We’ve just got to keep up our Loramie defense,” Brandewie said. “We preach it and preach it. We have some good teams coming up, so we just have to stay focused on one game at a time.”
It’s the third consecutive year the Redskins will face Country Day in a postseason game.
Fort Loramie beat Country Day 50-34 in a regional final two years ago and 50-16 in a district final last year.
The Knighthawks pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Russia 47-42 on Saturday in a district final. They average 58 points per game and give up an average of 39 points per game.
Four players average between eight and 15 points per game for Country Day, including senior forward Sarah Zimmerman, who averages 13.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. She’s one of a trio of Zimmermans who are among the squad’s top four scorers.
“They played very impressive today and came out aggressive on offense and defense,” Fort Loramie coach Carla Seigel said. “They stayed and watched us, and they’re going to be ready for us. We’ve got some things we need to work on.”
Fort Loramie scored the first 20 points on Saturday, but Bradford finished the second quarter with a 10-6 run to pull within 26-10 at halftime.
“We knew we were going to have a hard time stopping (Bradford’s Austy) Miller and (Rylee) Canan, and I thought the entire team did a great job of taking them out of their game plan. For us to do that in the first quarter was amazing.
“Late in that second quarter, we kind of fell apart. Lost our focus, had some bad passes. We talked about our mistakes at halftime, and I thought we rebounded in the second half.”
The Redskins outscored the Railroaders 15-11 in the third to take a 41-21 lead, then quickly ran away in the fourth quarter and pushed the advantage over 35 points to start a running clock.
“Even though we have some girls who have been here, we have a lot of new girls this year, and it’s their first time playing on a big stage, so there was some nervousness I think,” Seigel said. “I think they got better as the game wore on and helped us pull away. Overall, when you see this final score, I’m proud of how they played.
“I can’t say enough about Avery Brandewie today. …When we get a spark plug off the bench, that’s great for us.”
Senior forward Ava Sholtis added 12 points, eight rebounds, five steals and five assists for Fort Loramie. Cara Meyer scored eight points and Riley Heitkamp had six assists and three steals.
Colleen Brandewie and Sholtis have played on varsity since their freshmen years, and Seigel credited them for playing big roles.
“They’re great leaders and great people,” Seigel said. “They love their teammates and they set the bar high and challenge their teammates to meet it. When they play well, the rest of us play well.”
The Redskins will now turn their attention toward a fourth consecutive regional final appearance and third consecutive state berth.
“If we play our game, play Loramie defense, and limit the turnovers, we should be just fine,” Brandewie said.
