Brighton may have been just 8-12 going into Monday night's Section 5 Class A girls basketball playoff game with host Batavia, but one of those wins came against the Blue Devils. And several of the losses came to Monroe County League Division I and II schools.
So Bill Wade knew his team was going to have their hands full.
Even with a sloppy ending, that including many missed layups and free throws, Batavia escaped with a 44-39 win to advance past the opening round.
"I'm very happy," said Wade, whose team beat the Barons by two and lost by one in the regular season. "One of the things I said when I took over coaching the team was that I was going to enjoy every win our team gets - and I'm enjoying this win. We do have to fix some things. But if we didn't win, we weren't going to get a chance to fix them."
Wade also notes that Brighton's record is deceiving. The team had some injury problems to key players that were factors in the losses.
The five point victory was the biggest margin of victory either team has had in the three matchups this year and the reason was because of the Batavia defense.
When the Blue Devils had a 51-50 win in January, Brighton hit nine 3-pointers in the win. The 12th seeded Barons did not hit a shot from beyond the arc against the fifth seeded Blue Devils Monday. Wade gives a lot of credit to the defense of Brittany Hein, who he calls one of the best defensive players he's ever coached.
"We tried to give them different looks," Wade said. "We normally play a 3-2, but we were almost in a 2-3 tonight. They run one in and four out and they are very wide. (Leanna) Brooks is a good post player and driver, and we had a hard time adjusting to her last time. We tried to contain her drive so we didn't have to help on other girls, then we tried to be in their vision on every shot."
Wade is also looking towards his senior leaders in these playoffs. And Brittany Mazurkiewicz didn't disappoint.
She converted 8-of-9 free throw attempts and scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the second half.
"She started taking the ball to the basket," Wade said. "We used a little pick-and-roll play and she was taking the ball to the basket and getting fouled."
Jaycee Shirk had four points and eight rebounds with Hein pitching in four assists and Brittany Wormley scoring six points.
Brenna Bauer had 15 points to lead Brighton (8-13).
Batavia (15-6) will get another home game on Thursday because No. 13 Aquinas surprised No. 4 Sutherland 69-59 Monday.
"Since I took over, I've talked about changing the culture," Wade said. "First I wanted to get kids to want to come out and play, and second, I wanted them to believe they can win a big game. If we win or lose, the next game is going to be a step in the right direction in changing the atmosphere if we play a good game."
