Bruins Girls Basketball Riding Roller Coaster Early In Season

After Broadneck’s 45-37 win over Old Mill on January 9, head coach Juan McKinney called the season thus far “a roller coaster.”

Given the record, and the roster turnover, one can understand that. Broadneck, having just one senior on the roster, has posted a 6-4 mark as they settle in for the grind of Anne Arundel County play.

Anchored by senior center Makayla Kropfelder, who averages nearly a double-double a night (9.8 points and 11.2 rebounds), the Bruins have a steady post presence that gives them an opportunity to be in most games.

“She’s doing an excellent job of carrying us while we get our young guards into better positions,” McKinney said. “Eventually we’d like to play inside-out, but she’s active and hard to move, so she’s getting a lot of rebounds and good shots for us.”

Junior Jillian Gross has emerged as a second option, while the three-headed guard monster of junior Nora Sprague, sophomore Carmen Hubbard, and freshman Kileigh Perkins are working the backcourt. Those three have huge shoes to fill, replacing multi-year starter London Best, and that has been the team’s biggest challenge so far.

“There are moments where it looks good, but they’re learning what to do in that position, and it’s a new experience for them,” McKinney said. “We are hoping to get Kileigh going (off-ball) and that will open up our offense. It’s more about basketball IQ at this point. They don’t (fully) understand time and possession yet … and we have to play inside-out.”

Bruins have only truly been out of two games this season: a 67-44 loss to St. Mary’s on December 17 and a 56-23 defeat by Annapolis on January 6. In both games, McKinney said the Bruins looked nothing like themselves. The other two losses came in a 32-25, classic meat-grinder game against Severna Park, and a 51-47 overtime defeat by Severn School.

Their wins have come in all kinds of fashions: they slipped past Old Mill and Sherwood (47-40 on December 26) and had more convincing wins over Indian Creek (53-39 on December 27), Severn Run (73-39 on December 18), Cambridge-South Dorchester (59-12 on December 8) and Northeast (44-25 on December 5).

The rest of the season affords plenty of opportunities for Broadneck to test themselves. There’s a matchup with perennial county contender South River and currently undefeated Chesapeake, as well as rematches against Severna Park and Annapolis.

“We have to just keep working and getting better as the year goes, and when playoff time rolls around, we’ll be there,” McKinney said.