Samantha Brunelle continued her sensational freshman season by posting 31 points, including a flawless 18-for-18 performance from the free-throw line. In the process, the William Monroe girls basketball team advanced to the Region 3A East tournament with a 52-34 win over visiting Warren County Thursday night in the Conference 28 semifinals.
The victory sews up the Dragons’ first region tournament berth since 2012 as they’ll advance to the Region 3A East tournament now, regardless of the result in the conference title game.
Brunelle had 14 of those points in a decisive fourth quarter which saw the Dragons use an 8-0 run in the first half of the frame to break open what had been a reasonably close game for three quarters.
“There’s really no other way to describe Sam other than ‘it’s nice to have her,'” Monroe coach Jess Stafford said. “I know every coach in the district would be happy to have a player like that.”
Leading 31-25 going into the final eight minutes, Monroe got a basket from Brunelle, two free throws from Dajour Strother-Beasley, a basket from Lindsay Knights and two Brunelle freebies to open the fourth, giving Monroe its largest lead at the 4:24 mark. The Wildcats’ Hayley Martin buried a three to stop the bleeding, but Warren County managed just one field goal the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Dragons cruised to victory largely behind Brunelle’s free-throw shooting. The freshman went 10-for-10 from the line in the final three minutes as Warren began fouling to try to extend the game.
“One of my big goals over the summer was to improve my free-throw percentage,” Brunelle said. “I worked so hard to get my percentage up and it’s paid off so far.”
It took Brunelle a few minutes to get going early on, as the Wildcat defense zeroed in on her in the paint. Strother-Beasley was the beneficiary of this, as she scored Monroe’s first seven points to guide the Dragons to a 16-5 lead after one. Strother-Beasley finished with 15 points.
“What’s most rewarding about Sam is that she also tries to get her teammates involved,” Stafford said. “She wants them to shoot and she wants to distribute the ball, even when she maybe shouldn’t. Dajour had a monster first quarter. She got us started off.”
Due to Monroe’s huge advantage down low, Warren County took to launching three-pointers and missed all eight of their attempts in the first stanza. They finished 3-of-24 from long range. Brunelle swatted seven Warren County shots.
The Wildcats clawed back in the second period, holding Monroe scoreless for the first five-and-a half minutes of the quarter. They managed to cut the lead to five on six straight points by Nikki Roof before two Brunelle foul shots broke the drought for the Dragons. Martin drilled a three at the buzzer, making the score 20-14 at halftime.
Martin did so again at the end of the third quarter to again cut the deficit to six before Monroe’s big fourth frame. She scored nine points to tie Roof for the team lead. Samantha Schroyer added eight for Warren County.
Monroe will host Brentsville in the conference final Friday night at 7. Both teams have clinched berths in the regional tournament.
