BREWER – It didn’t matter that she didn’t score a single point in the second half after lighting up Nokomis of Newport for 12 in the first. It didn’t matter that her Brewer team watched a 12-point halftime lead evaporate into four and eventually a deficit in the second half. It didn’t matter that her young, largely inexperienced Witches had to rely on some freshman help.

All that mattered to Brewer senior guard Katie Quimby was the final score: 35-33 over perennial power Nokomis.

“It means a lot. They’ve beaten us nine straight times since I’ve been here. This is my first victory against them,” said Quimby, who still wound up as the game’s top scorer despite the second half defensive blanketing job the Warriors’ Kelley Paradis did on her. “We worked hard and I give most of the credit to my teammates.”

Yeah, her much younger teammates: freshmen Leah Jackson and Caitlyn Wilson in particular.

After sophomore forward Katie Kenney drew her fifth foul and took her seven points and six rebounds to the Brewer bench for good with 3:49 to play and the Witches down 31-30, Jackson was sent in, but not before a quick chat with head coach Andy Nickerson.

“He just told me to keep my cool, help my teammates, and keep calm,” Jackson said. “And that’s what I tried to do.”

Junior forward Jordan McLain (five points, eight rebounds, three assists) hit one of two foul shots to tie it with 3:31 left. After each team missed 1-and-1 foul shots, Paradis gave Nokomis its biggest lead (33-31) with 1:07 left. Her shot off the glass from the right block came off a pretty, zip pass from Tatum Welch (eight points, six boards) out on the perimeter.

The Witches tied it 10 seconds later when Wilson found Jackson in the low post off a fast break. The Witches then fouled Paradis with 43 seconds left, but she missed both shots and Quimby came up with the rebound. Sixteen seconds later, Wilson again found Jackson, this time on the right wing. Jackson spotted up and knocked down a 12-footer.

“I was just open and she found me with the pass,” Jackson said. “I hadn’t taken a lot of shots, but I felt like I was open, so … I just wanted to make sure I didn’t turn the ball over.”

With five seconds left, Welch took a 15-footer from the right wing that bounced off the rim and into the hands of Brewer’s Elizabeth Cote. The ball was swatted out of bounds, but Brewer retained possession and ran out the remaining time as McLain threw a deep inbounds pass from the opposite baseline to Quimby, whose shot from the right block missed, but was rebounded by (you guessed it) Jackson as time expired.

“This is an excellent win for us,” said Nickerson, whose 2-2 Witches outrebounded Nokomis 35-25 overall. “We did a very poor job rebounding against Lawrence and spent a couple of grueling hours watching film followed by two grueling hours in the gym working on boxing out, establishing position, and rebounding.”

The 2-3 Warriors were victimized by bad shooting (24 percent from the field) and rebounding, but committed fewer turnovers (15 to Brewer’s 25).

“It wasn’t that. Our energy level was awful,” said Nokomis coach Earl Anderson. “We were plodding, we were slow, we weren’t in defensive stances, and we weren’t moving. We looked like the slowest team in America. We looked flat.”

WITCHES 35, WARRIORS 33

Nokomis (2-3) Brewer (2-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Paradis 2 10 2 4 6 Quimby 4 8 12

Fournier 0 0 0 0 0 Wilson 1 3 2

Petersen 3 11 1 5 7 Cote 2 8 5

Al.Bragdn 0 3 0 1 0 Gomm 0 0 0

Wyman 0 0 0 0 0 Jackson 2 3 4

Cooper 2 5 3 3 7 M.McLain 0 0

As.Bragdn 1 4 2 4 5 J.McLain 1 5

Welch 3 12 2 4 8 Kenney 3 4 7

Totals 11 45 10 21 33 Totals 13 33 12 35

Nokomis 3 10 23 33

Brewer 13 22 27 35

3-pt. goals – Nokomis (1-8): As. Bragdon 1-1, Welch 0-1, Petersen 0-1, Paradis 0-1, Al. Bragdon 0-2, Cooper 0-2; Brewer (1-4): Quimby 1-3, Cote 0-1

JV: Brewer 36-27

Attendance: 200 (est.)