Bruins Snap Win Streak, Look To Reassess

As Broadneck’s girls basketball team hits the stretch run, there’s been a consistent theme: long winning streaks, followed by a loss that left them assessing and rethinking.

With three games left in the regular season, the team is once again looking to start a new streak. The Bruins had their latest win string come to a sudden end at South River on February 7, when the Seahawks completed a season sweep with a 68-33 victory.

South River’s depth, aggressive defense, and full-court press overwhelmed Broadneck and allowed the score to get out of hand late in the first quarter. The Bruins fell behind 17-3 and never recovered.

“We have good players, but we’re still figuring out how to play together,” said Broadneck coach Juan McKinney. “We’ve been doing pretty well, but we got smacked (against South River). They’re good, and we couldn’t get it going, and that’s the result. They’re tough to beat, and when they’re hitting outside shots like that, they’re really tough to beat.”

The sky is hardly falling for Broadneck, though, as a 14-5 record is indicative of the team’s successes this season. Heading into the South River game, the Bruins had been riding the momentum from successive wins over Arundel (64-14 on January 24), Southern (54-13 on January 28), Severna Park (29-21 on January 31), Queen Anne’s (48-37 on February 3) and Old Mill (60-31 on February 4).

It’s not as simple as the Bruins going as far as London Best (7.6 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, 3.9 steals per game) and Macie McNece (19.2 points per game) will take them, but if they’re struggling, there has yet to be a consistent third answer. Pieces are starting to flash, though.

“They’ve all been different games, and we’ve had to win them in different ways,” McKinney said. “We’ve been doing well and we’ve had different players like Carmen (Hubbard) and Makayla (Kropfelder) expanding their roles and giving us good minutes to help (Best and McNece).”

Kropfelder, in particular, has added an interior presence the Bruins have lacked, averaging 5.5 points and 5.8 rebounds on the season, and seeing those numbers climb with more minutes as the campaign has progressed.

Broadneck has three games left in the regular season, which concludes February 21 at home to Crofton. After that, the Bruins will move on to regionals, where the task looks steep. Leonardtown and North Point look especially tough, with North Point having a win over South River and Leonardtown one over North Point, while there’s also the Annapolis squad that beat Broadneck and will likely contest the county championship on the Bruins’ home floor in a couple of weeks.

“Our region is tough. It’s going to be tough,” McKinney said. “But we have three games to keep working and be the best that we can be for regionals.”