Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – Justin Liddle spent a good chunk of time during the offseason brainstorming ways to make the upcoming season fun for his West Branch squad.

Three games into the season the Bears have found a near fool proof recipe for fun.

They are winning.

West Branch matched its win total from each of the previous two season on Monday with a 56-31 win over Burlington Notre Dame in a non-conference contest in West Branch.

The win was the third in a row to open the season for West Branch which is off to its first 3-0 start since 2021.

“We talked a lot this offseason about what we could do to make things more fun and obviously winning is the key ingredient in that,” Liddle said. “Things have just fallen in place these first three games.”

After back-to-back 3-19 seasons West Branch has shown impressive improvement during its 3-0 start.

West Branch has had a different leading scorer in every game this season after junior Emalyn Poe led four Bears in double figures with 14 points on Monday.

“We’re having fun and it’s a good thing to start off the season with three wins,” Poe said. “That’s been a big thing for us.”

Senior Kennedy Simpson had a school-record 35 points in a season-opening win over Iowa Valley.

Ava Burnett and Lexi Skay each had 13 in a win over Easton Valley on Saturday.

On Monday it was balanced scoring that carried the Bears.

Five players had at least eight points as West Branch shot 43 percent from the floor.

“I think we saw that the post was open a lot and we had a lot of good feeds,” Skay said. “We had a lot of assists this game, we saw each other a lot better.”

Last season West Branch scored more than 50 points four times.

West Branch is averaging 62 points per game during its 3-0 start and has scored at least 56 points in all three games.

“Everyone has gotten older which I think is a big thing,” Liddle siad. “We are experienced with Lexi, Kennedy and Ava, those three have played a lot of basketball. It sucks that we lost Addi (Schultes) but it’s another year with me, we are more consistent and our overall skills have gotten better which has made it easier for us to try to execute what we are trying to do on offense.”

West Branch never trailed on Monday, jumping to a 16-9 lead after the opening quarter and building a 26-17 halftime advantage.

The Bears put the game away in the third quarter with defense.

West Branch held Burlington Notre Dame to 20 percent shooting in the second half and allowed just five field goals.

“I wasn’t too thrilled at halftime with our defense,” Liddle said. “That was our biggest challenge to them and they locked it down in the second half.”

Poe led the Bears with 14 points while Burnett had 12 points and Skay had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.

“We are having fun,” Skay said. “We just take it game by game.”

Freshman Clancy Trepanier added 10 points and six rebounds and Simpson had eight points and seven boards.

West Branch forced Burlington Notre Dame into 27 turnovers and held a 46-30 rebounding edge.

“We are a lot better on defense,” Poe said. “Our 3-2 has been big for us. We are doing a lot better on defense.”

Burlington Notre Dame         9   8   11  3  –  31

West Branch                            16  10  21  9  –  56

Burlington Notre Dame (31) – Jillian Nickel 0-3 0-2 0, Daisy Hazell 2-10 2-4 7, Kaitlyn Kipp 1-6 1-6 3, Isabella Drew 6-17 0-0 16, Faith Gibb 0-1 0-0 0, Kinsey Cameron 2-8 1-2 5, Totals 11-45 4-14 31.

West Branch (56) – Lander Malloy 0-2 1-2 1, Clancy Trepanier 4-9 1-2 10, Lexi Skay 5-9 1-5 11, Kennedy Simpson 3-11 2-3 8, Ava Burnett 4-8 4-4 12, Grace Hamann 0-2 0-2 0, Emalyn Poe 6-10 1-3 14, Totals 22-51 10-21 56.

3-point field goal – WB 2-7 (Malloy 0-1, Treapanier 1-2, Skay 0-1, Burnett 0-1, Poe 1-2), BND 5-26 (Nickel 0-1, Hazell 1-4, Kipp 0-4, Drew 4-11, Gibb 0-1, Cameron 0-5).Rebounds – WB 46 (Skay 14), BND 30 (Nickel 6, Cameron 6). Turnovers – WB 21, BND 27. Total fouls – WB 16, BND 19. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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