Photos by Bob Hockenbrock

By Kenny Varner

BELLEVILLE- Small and mighty.

Despite its small team size and its record coming into the contest, the feisty eight person team of Belleville Mennonite showed visitor Juniata it’s a team to not take lightly as they held a slim 16-15 advantage going into the intermission against the Lady Indians.

However, the Indians would take back the momentum in the second half to take home the victory in non-league play 37-26.

Regan Lowrey led all scorers posting an 18-point performance en route to the 11-point victory.

Leading the way for Belleville Mennonite was Katelyn Renno’s 16-point effort. She captured a double-double as she pulled down 10 rebounds.

Teammate Karina Renno added eight points with seven boards.

The Thunder started out with the advantage starting out in the first.

Belleville’s Angie Weaver got the game going as she hit a bucket down underneath the basket.

After a scoreless free throw attempt by Juniata, the Lady Thunder got the ball down to Katelyn Renno as she drove in for the bucket.

A minute later, BMS forced yet another turnover and got the ball down to Katelyn Renno once again for the lay-in and a 6-0 advantage.

Lowrey followed with hitting 2-for-2 from the charity stripe, making it a 6-2 ball game.

On the following in bounds, the Thunder was able to once again get the ball to Renno in transition, upping the BMS lead to 8-2.

But Lowrey cut the lead back to four as she hit a short jumper with 2:16 left in the first quarter. The bucket forced Belleville to call a time out.

Coming out of the time out, the Indians came out in a full court press but the Thunder was able to break it and hit their favorite target Renno underneath, upping the lead to 10-4 ending the first quarter.

Like all good teams, the Indians would not stay quiet in the second quarter.

Juniata broke out on a 9-0 run.

In the run, Lowrey took over the game hitting six points in it, temporarily giving her team the lead at 13-10.

But with the help of Renno, the Thunder battled their way back in the lead as she hit two consecutive buckets, taking back the lead at 14-13.

BMS made it 16-13 on a bucket by Karina Renno.

Lindsey Gilson followed up with the final bucket of the half, while the Thunder held a slim 16-15 lead.

Juniata took back the lead in the third and never looked back as they outscored 9-3 making it a 24-19 advantage.

The Lady Indians continued to clamp down defensively as did Belleville Mennonite’s.

Juniata held the lead outscoring Belleville 13-7 en route to closing the victory.