Jayde VanHyfte scores 27 for Bravettes

ANNAWAN— Annawan might have won by 15 but Monday’s 61-46 Lincoln Trail Conference victory over Princeville was far from an easy walk in the park. The Bravettes needed all of their depth inside to survive a barrage of seven thee-pointers from Princeville’s Caitin Pullen and didn’t pull away until the fourth quarter.

Annawan led just 34-31 with 2:10 left in the third when Princeville’s Lucy Waid, who had been the primary paint defender throughout the night, went to the bench with her fourth foul. The Bravettes closed the quarter on a 10-2 run and Jayde VanHyfte used the extra space to score 18 of her game high 27 points in the second half.

“She fights, she’s done it before and the other girls also did a good job of stepping up energy wise. (freshman) Emily Miller played one of her best games in the post,” Annawan head coach Jason Burkiewicz said. ““It was a lot easier to make interior passes when they lost some length in there. We like to run a lot of stuff where if you send two people to Jayde we’re going to look behind you.”

Without Waid the Princeville offense also suffered, as the Bravettes were able to focus their defensive efforts on the perimeter. Pullen knocked down a pair of threes in the fourth quarter but by that time it was too little, too late.

“They were able to key on (three-pointers) without Lucy inside and that hurt us. But they’re a ton and you have to give them credit,” Princeville head coach John Gross said.

Pullen finished with 23 points. Waid had six points and nine rebounds. Kaley Jackson finished with nine points and seven rebounds for Annawan. Miller and Keagan Rico both scored seven off the Bravettes' bench. 

The win was the 39th in a row for Annawan with the Bravettes now 18-0 on the season and 4-0 in LTC play. Princeville dropped to 17-3 (3-1 LTC).