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By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal

Nelson joins 1,000 point club in win at Benton
BENTON — Fennimore senior Braycee Nelson is having a moment. 

The versatile Fennimore point guard had 17 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals to lead Fennimore to a 56–31 non-conference victory at Benton Monday night.

Nelson also became the fifth player in program history to score 1,000 career points Monday night, joining Breland Prochaska (1,678), Alexi Needham (1,475), older sister Brynlee Nelson (1,288) and Cheyanne Udelhoven (1,208).

Nelson hit 3-pointer from the right wing midway through the first half to reach the career milestone.

“We ran our traditional fade play where we set a double screen for her to shoot a three on the right wing,” said Fennimore head coach Kevin Everson. “Tess threw a great skip and Brooklyn and Rose set great screens.

“What an accomplishment to hit the 1000 point mark. Her dedication to the sport has really paid off and I am sure she would be the first to tell you she couldn’t have got to it without her teammates. She leads by example daily, great to show the young girls what hard work can do and what you can achieve.”

French also had an excellent game Monday with a game-high 22 points on a perfect 10 for 10 from the field, with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks for the Golden Eagles (13–6), who have now won three straight games and five of six.

Fennimore snapped Boscobel’s two-game winning streak with a 59–53 SWAL victory at BHS last Friday night.

It was a back and fourth game, in which both teams went through stretches of poor shooting. 

In the end Nelson outdueled Boscobel senior standout Erin Knowles to lead the fourth place Golden Eagles (6–3 SWAL) to their sixth conference victory off the season.

Nelson forced a pair of turnovers in the closing minutes and made 4 of 6 free throw attempts to close out the six-point win.

She finished with new career-high 29 points — including 19 in the second half — on 9 of 25 shooting from the field and 8 of 12 at the free throw line. She also grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds, five steals and three assists.  

“There were a few lead changes in both halves, but I thought both teams battled throughout the night,” said Boscobel head coach Erik Kinney. “Bracyee Nelson had a really good game for them. She is a really good player on both ends of the floor. Her defense caused a couple really untimely turnovers at the end of the game for us that ultimately was the difference in the game. 

Fennimore scored the first six points of the second half and took a 38–29 lead on a Nelson layup with 14:25 left before Kinney called a quick timeout.

Boscobel quickly cut into that deficit with back-to-back 3-pointers by Grace Smith and Knowles to make it a 38–35 with 12:16 left, and eventually took the lead on a driving left layup by Knowles less than a minute later. But Nelson had the answer on the other end with a floater in the lane. 

Moments later, Knowles canned a three from the top of the key, then after a defensive stop Knowles made two free throws to give Boscobel a 45–41 lead with 7:04 remaining.

Fennimore chipped away at the lead with a steal and layup by Nelson and rebound basket by Nelson, then the senior swished a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Eagle a 48–46 lead with 4:14 left.

She then came up with a steal at the other end, then made a pair at the line after the Eagles burned a minute off the clock.

Kenna Wallin answered with a clutch 3-point play to make it 50–49 with exactly three minutes left.

Izzy Bender made a pair of free throws for Fennimore, then Knowles found a cutting Kennedy Seeley for slashing layup.

Nelson set up French for an easy layup on Fennimore’s next possession, then stole the inbound pass and was immediately foul.

After Nelson split the free throw attempts, Fennimore led 54–51 with 1:23 left.

She then came up with another steal when Fennimore pressed after the made and Bender extended the lead to four with a free throw.

Knowles scored in the lane with less than a minute to play to again make it a two point game, but Tess Kenney made two more free throws to give Fennimore a 57–53 advantage.

After another steal, Boscobel had to foul again and Nelson went 2 of 4 from the line in the final 30 seconds to account for the final score. 

Knowles finished with 24 points, 22 rebounds and six blocks. Wallin continued to shoot the ball well and added 16 points and six rebounds.

Tess Kenney finished with 10 points, five steals, three rebounds and two assists for the winners. Rhiannon Nelson-Hahn added nine points and three steals, while French finished with seven points and eight boards.

“It was a total team effort for us,” said Everson. “Izzy and Brylie (Zink) did a good job making it tough for Erin to get her points. Rhiannon and Tess really kept us in the game in the first half. Braycee was huge down the stretch with some big steals and buckets. Rose had a big steal at the end. She also had a big basket off Braycee assist with a couple minutes left. Brooklyn and Libby (Day) helped us navigate some foul trouble and contributed. We knew they were going to give us their best and we did enough to get the win.”

Last Tuesday, Nelson had 21 points, eight rebounds, eight asists and four steals, and Ritchied added a career-high 16 points and eight rebounds in a 56–54 SWAL win over Riverdale (4–12, 0–7).