BELMONT – A year after the most successful season in school history, the Belmont girls basketball team will again be led by a familiar name.
    Sophomore Keegan Kamps seamlessly transitioned from role player a year ago into the Braves’ go-to scoring option in Saturday’s season-opener against visiting Fennimore.
    Kamps hit three 3-pointers and scored a co-game-high 24 points, including all seven of Belmont’s (0–1) points in the opening quarter, but is still wasn’t quite enough.
    Fennimore senior Alexi Needham had 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists to spoil Kamps’ big night, and lead the Golden Eagles to a 40-38 non-conference victory at Belmont High School on Saturday, Nov. 24.
    Needham and Fennimore (1-0) survived a 12-7 fourth-quarter run by the Braves and held on for the narrow two-point win.
    Fennimore took a 22-15 lead into halftime on the strength of a 16-8 second-quarter run.
    Danielle Whitish added 13 points for the winners, while Ashley Maag chipped in three points as only three Eagles score in the victory.
    Jordyn Kamps and Kalyn Kamps scored four points apiece for Belmont.
    After averaging 5.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game as a freshman, the 5-10 Kamps will be asked to help fill a majority of the lost scoring production of older sister Kailee Kamps, who graduated last spring as Belmont’s all-time leading scorer and the reigning Six Rivers West Player of the Year.
    The older Kamps led the conference in scoring for a third straight year at 18.6 points per game and helped the Braves win a share of their first-ever conference title in girls basketball. Belmont finished the 2011–12 season with a 21-4 overall record and a 9-1 mark in Six Rivers West play.
    Belmont will host Southwestern on Saturday, Dec. 1, starting at 1p.m. The Braves will then host Wauzeka/Steuben on Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 7:30 p.m.

Fennimore… 6  16  11    7 - 40
Belmont…… 7    8  11  12 - 38
Scoring Leaders: Keegan Kamps 24, Kalyn Kamps 4, Jordyn Kamps 4, Audrey Wedig 3, Jannie deHaan 2, Katelyn Schobert 1.