Britannia Bruins melt the Mark Isfeld Ice in first round

The Britannia Bruins came into provincials as the 2nd seed—almost guaranteeing that any team they play will struggle to keep up. Cue the Mark Isfeld Ice, ranked 15th overall, who are the undeniable underdog in comparison.

Through the first quarter, however, the Ice trailed by only 11 points, defending the paint when necessary and not allowing the Bruins to rough them up (too much).

It was the second quarter where the Ice began to come together as a team, even hitting two consecutive 3s on back-to-back possessions. Britannia fought hard to end the first half on a high, with a score of 37-21 over Isfeld.

Isfeld kept their cool in the next half, though. Even while trailing by 20 points midway through the third, the girls did not quit. They played with every bit of heart that brought them to this tournament in the first place.

The Bruin’s blocking strength prevailed late in the third, forcing unwanted turnovers for the Ice, who fell to a 22-point deficit heading into the fourth.

Britannia showed off their passing ability, with Tamia Edgar (#21) and Margaret Dixon (#12) consistently finding their surrounding teammates for easy layups.

With just under 7 minutes to go in the fourth, Ice’s Dianna Townsend (#22) went down hard with what appeared to be some sort of knee injury. Isfeld couldn’t seem to bounce back, leading to a bigger gap on the scoreboard.

Despite a valiant effort by the Mark Isfeld, the Britannia Bruins iced out their opponents with a final score of 75-31.

Surprise Munie (#7) of the Bruins was named player of the game, scoring a total of 16 points.

Britannia’s head coach, Mike Evans, had this to say after his team’s blowout win:

“I thought we were very nervous in the beginning. I really liked the way [Mark Isfeld] played in terms of energy and they seemed more ready to play than we were. But as the game went on, basically what happened was our defense got better and better. And the kids ran. As soon as they run, we’ve got a lot of players with a lot of speed. We pushed them all over the court and shut them down while we were doing that. I think they only scored 9 points, so for me, that’s a really good thing.”

Check out our Instagram to see all of the highlights from each matchup today, including Britannia’s big win over Mark Isfeld.

Written by: Crystal Scuor