It wasn’t easy though, as the Tigers’ last surge carried them out of danger with nearly 3:30 remaining.

“Abby Joseph had a big steal toward the end and she made an and-one and then made a couple big free throws as we started to pull away,” Springfield coach Jim Schuler said. “Kylee Kosek, our junior guard, is our only returning starter and she’s doing a good job of taking up some of the scoring load that when we lost all those seniors last year. Kylee shot it well off the dribble tonight and also knocked down a few catch-and-shoot opportunities from the 3-point line.

“But the key tonight was our defense. That’s where we made our mark. We shut (Brookfield) down by not allowing them to get the ball on the spots on the floor where they like them. That was a really big thing. Our girls did a great job of recognizing who their shooters were and where they were on the floor. We didn’t give up too many easy looks.”

Kosek finished with 15 points and Jacey Mullen added 10 for the Tigers, who improved to 2-1.

Staff photo / Brad Emerine Springfield coach Jim Schuler discusses strategy with his team during the first half of the Tigers’ 45-36 win at Brookfield on Wednesday.

Springfield led 11-9 after one quarter and 19-18 at halftime before moving ahead to a 32-27 lead entering the final quarter.

Brookfield also knows about the youth movement, especially after losing senior forward Becca Litz to injury Monday against Lisbon. Coach Ken Forsythe won’t know the severity of the injury until after Litz gets an MRI on Friday.

“Losing Becca really hurt,” Forsythe said of his two-time all-league performer. “She’s our leader and not having her in the middle on defense, where she is our glue, it’s just tough right now. For the most part, we don’t have much varsity experience anywhere on the floor. We had one girl out there tonight who actually played significant minutes last year.

“There were times tonight when we had three or four freshmen on the floor at the same time. They’re pretty good basketball players, but they’ll need to know when they can go and when they need to pull the ball back a bit. We’re so young. Our girls are trying to learn how to play in certain situations. We’re trying to teach them on the go.”

Sophomore Anna Reichart had 11 points and 10 rebounds, but didn’t get much help on the boards. Freshman guard Sophia Hook also scored 11 points and had four assists.

“We have a scrappy group with no height,” Forsythe said. “But we need help on the fundamentals and we’re in our own heads. Boxouts, taking care of the ball and all the fundamentals. We have to work on it all.

“(Springfield) beat us on the boards pretty bad and they’ll be one of the smaller teams we face this year. We’ve got some tough matchups coming, especially in our league. So we have to learn how to play small and figure out a way to compete with the bigger girls we’ll see. We’ve just got to battle through that.”

Joseph added seven points for Springfield.

“Our two seniors, Rebecca Catlos and Gianna Santangelo, beat people up inside tonight and both had big layins down the stretch,” Schuler said. “Then we had our point guard Kaila LaMorticella and the two freshmen give us big contributions. Kaila gave us good tempo and Mullen and Lesnak gave us some size and good skill. Those two freshmen can play inside or outside. So we took steps tonight and we’re starting to jell even with all the new pieces.”

Audrey Reardon added seven points for the Warriors.

“I thought Anna Reichart played a strong game, as did Audrey Reardon and Sophia Hook, our best freshmen,” Forsythe said. “We had some bright spots, but we’ve just got to get better all the way around. It’s a learning thing for the most part.”