Sports
Brentwood Basketball: Success Hinges on League Play for Boys, Girls
While the Brentwood boys basketball team is looking for a winning overall record, the girls are just looking to end their lengthy losing streak.
The Brentwood boys varsity basketball team is entering a crucial stretch in its season. The Eagles’ next four games are each South Central A.A. Conference matchups that will likely determine Brentwood’s fate in this season’s conference standings.
The Eagles are 5-5, including a 1-1 league mark, and after enjoying a week off will play at Crossroads (5-3, 1-1) on Friday, Jan. 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Brentwood rolled past Principia, 60-46, on Jan. 6 before falling to Bayless, 67-45, the following day. Bayless is 5-0 in the South Central A.A. and is clearly the favorite to win the conference title.
After the Crossroads game on Friday, Eagles coach Brad Kern’s squad will have another full week between games before playing Hancock on Jan. 21. If Brentwood wins its next two games, then it will likely be playing for second place in the standings when the Eagles host Maplewood Richmond Heights (5-7, 1-0) in a rivalry game on Jan. 25. Despite its record, MRH is a deep and talented team that has played an extremely tough early season schedule.
The key for Kern is whether senior guard Andrew Erby can regain his shooting touch. Despite leading Brentwood in scoring last season and also this season, Erby is struggling. He shot 48 percent last season, including 30-for-68 from 3-point range (44 percent) and averaged 13.7 points per game. But he is shooting just 29 percent this season and is only 13-for-44 from 3-point territory. Erby’s 13 points per game still leads the Eagles.
Kern’s most consistent performer has been senior center Amadou Cisse, who earlier this season. Cisse, who is from Senegal, is averaging 9.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3 blocks per game.
GIRLS LOOKING TO SNAP LOSING SKID
It has been a rough past six weeks for the Brentwood varsity girls basketball team. Since defeating Windsor, 26-21, on Dec. 3, the Eagles have dropped six consecutive games.
Coach Scott Long, in his fifth season, is hoping his team can snap this skid when it hosts Crossroads (2-4, 1-1) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Though the Eagles are 2-8, they are just 0-1 in South Central A.A. Conference action and with almost their entire league slate ahead of them, this season can still end on a bright note.
Long led Brentwood to a 14-11 record last season, but lost several key players to graduation, including nearly all of the team’s scoring output. This season, junior Sammi Merlotti leads the Eagles with 13.7 points per game and 20 steals. She is also second with 7 rebounds per game.
Sophomore Meredith McGrath is averaging a robust 12.5 rebounds per game, along with 6.8 points.
The Eagles’ South Central AA foes include Valley Park, Maplewood Richmond Heights, Bayless, Crossroads and Hancock. By the end of January, Brentwood will have played each of those teams, and the conference race will be much clearer when February rolls around.