By Dee Grenert Correspondent
CULVER — Culver Girls Academy needed someone, anyone to complement leading scorers Kylee Shipley and Andrijana Cvitkovic against Culver Community.
Brenna Newell assumed the role brilliantly.
The 5-foot-3 junior guard tossed in a career-high 20 points — five in the extra session — grabbed seven rebounds and handed out three assists to help the Eagles fend off Culver 67-59 in overtime at Fleet Gymnasium Wednesday.
“I can’t say enough about Brenna Newell,” CGA head coach Gary Christlieb said. “We’ve been looking for someone to step up and be that third scorer and she was tonight. She hit some clutch shots and only had one turnover. She did a great job handling the ball. This should be a great confidence boost for her. Each game she’s gotten better, and she picked a great time to be big and step it up.”
Newell, who broke a 57-57 tie with a free throw to open the extra period, accumulated the bulk of her total with short jumpers and layups. Her bunny courtesy of a Shipley feed put CGA up 60-57 with 2:57 left in the game and also sparked a 10-2 overtime run.
Meanwhile, Culver, which forced free basketball with a 10-1 spree over the final 2:26 of the fourth quarter, dropped its second straight overtime decision and third straight nail-biter overall.
“I can’t take anything away from the efforts of the other teams, but we’re beating ourselves right now,” Culver head coach Ashli Faulkner said. “We can’t come and play just the second half and expect to win. This is the third game in a row that we’re talking could’ve, should’ve, would’ve.”
Shipley tied for game-high scoring honors with 21 points while adding six assists and five rebounds in a strong all-around effort. Her string of transition buckets in the third quarter helped the Eagles, who tore off a 13-2 third-quarter-ending spurt, open a 45-33 lead heading into the fourth frame.
“We emphasized in practice, we emphasized in pregame, and we emphasized during the game to get back in transition defense,” Faulkner said. “We know Shipley’s good in transition. We didn’t get back and she did get loose, and that’s to her credit that she got herself in a position to score.”

Cvitkovic, CGA’s promising 5-11 freshman, reeled off 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots before fouling out late in overtime. She locked horns with Culver post standout Gwen Zehner for better than three quarters, until her fourth foul with 6:22 to go in the fourth quarter moved her away from the post defensively.
With smaller players left to double-team Zehner, who repeatedly set up on the right wing and then rolled to the block, the 6-1 Culver junior exploded for 13 of her game-high-tying 21 points in the fourth quarter. She also ripped down nine boards.
“We held Zehner to 21 points, which actually isn’t bad when you consider she scored 32 points in this game last year,” Christlieb said. “She kind of went off in the fourth quarter, but overall we kept her in check. I didn’t want her to hurt us on the backboard, and we did a pretty good job there.
“Andi did a nice job in the lane,” he added. “This was a good experience for Andi because Zehner is the first true post player we’ve seen this year.”
After trailing from midway through the opening quarter, the Cavs drew even with 26 seconds left in the fourth stanza. Culver’s Nicole Carnegie stripped the ball from an Eagles guard and kicked it ahead to teammate Susannah Baker for a layup and 57-57 game.
Both teams missed chances to win in regulation. With 14.7 seconds on the clock, Culver inbounded the ball to Zehner who dribbled and forced up a 13-foot jumper that clanged off the rim and off the backboard support, giving the Eagles another crack.
Newell missed with 5 seconds to go, and after CGA’s Andrea Lin grabbed the offensive rebound, Shipley’s 15-foot jumper fell short at the horn.
“With the foul trouble we tried to make a couple of defensive adjustments in the fourth quarter,” Christlieb said. “Well, that didn’t work. When (Culver) made that run, we lost our composure because on defense, we stopped doing what we had been doing. I give the kids a lot of credit. They got it right in overtime and that’s pretty significant.”
Carnegie added 14 points, including Culver’s only overtime bucket, and secured nine rebounds. Also for Culver, Baker distributed seven assists, Alison Zehner handed out five assists and Whitney Sanders swiped five steals.
However, a 6-for-16 mark from the free-throw line, rough first half and a sloppy overtime cost the Cavs dearly.
“I think we relaxed going into overtime,” Faulkner said. “We had all the momentum and then just came out and didn’t finish. No excuses. You’ve got to finish. The one thing every basketball team can control is effort. You can’t relax.
“You don’t know how frustrating it is to watch your team play so well for long stretches and then play two or three minutes where they kill themselves,” she concluded. “I know they’re tired. I know they’re sore, but they have to suck it up, man up and finish.”
Both times hit the road Saturday. CGA heads to Riley, while Culver travels to Knox.
• CGA 67,
  CULVER COMMUNITY 59 OT
At Culver
Score by quarters
Culver: 10  22  33  57  59
CGA:    15  28  45  57  67
CULVER (59): Nicole Carnegie 6 2-2 14, Susannah Baker 4 1-4 9, Whitney Sanders 1 0-0 3, Alison Zehner 3 0-0 6, Chandler Gast 0 0-0 0, Cindy Miller 2 0-3 6, Gwen Zehner 9 3-7 21. TOTALS: 25 6-16 59.
CGA (67): Alexis Christlieb 2 0-0 4, Kenzie Ungar 2 0-0 4, Andrea Lin 0 0-0 0, Kylee Shipley 8 4-6 21, Moira Kelley 0 0-0 0, Brenna Newell 9 2-4 20, Erica Sims 1 0-0 2, Casey Hall 0 0-0 0, Monica Weaser 0 0-0 0, Andrijana Cvitkovic 6 4-7 16. TOTALS: 28 10-17 67.
3-point goals: Culver 3 (Miller 2, Sanders), CGA 1 (Shipley); Turnovers: Culver 20, CGA 20; Rebounds: Culver 36 (Carnegie, G. Zehner 9), CGA 34 (Cvitkovic 11); Assists: Culver 17 (Baker 7), CGA 18 (Shipley 6); Steals: Culver 10 (Sanders 5), CGA 6 (Shipley 2); Fouls (fouled out): Culver 18 (Sanders), CGA (none); Records: Culver 5-3, CGA 5-3.
JV score: CGA 26 (Casey Hall 8), Culver 9 (Chandler Gast 4).