Columbus East head coach Danny Brown, right, high-fives assistant coach Kylie Weichman after a good play during the annual girls basketball rivalry game against Columbus North at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022.
The Republic file photo
When Danny Brown took the Columbus East girls basketball coaching job 20 years ago, he was told if he won 15 games in any season, it would be a good year.
Over those past two decades, Brown has not only hit the 15-win mark more often than not, he has averaged 15 wins a season. On Saturday, he won his 300th game as Olympians coach.
“We’ve averaged about 15 a year for 20 years, so I’m proud of that, and that all goes back to all those players and coaches,” Brown said. “I’m blessed to have such great players and great coaches along the way.”
Brown, who has announced he is retiring at the end of the season, is 358-194 in his 24th year overall and 300-166 in his 20th season at East. Of those 20 years, Willie Humes has been with Brown as an assistant for 17, and Kylie Weichman has been there for 12 years.
“It’s just special because this has been a special place to me and my family,” Brown said. “To get it done in this final year means a whole lot to me.”
The Olympians (7-11) appear to have gotten things turned back in the right direction as they approach the postseason. They started the season 5-4, but then lost seven in a row, thanks to injuries to key players and a rigorous schedule. East bounced back with a 68-44 win at Eastern (Pekin) on Thursday and an 80-55 victory at New Albany on Saturday.
“We’ve been able to push the ball in these last two games, get the ball up the court in transition, which has really helped us score,” senior guard Allison Craig said. “Then, we’ve been getting a lot of steals from our press, which has also helped us get in transition and score. That’s been our main focus these last two games.”
Columbus East’s Allison Craig brings the ball up the court during the annual girls basketball rivalry game against Columbus North at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022.
The Republic file photo
Craig missed the Olympians’ loss at Floyd Central because of illness. Senior Saige Stahl, an Indiana State recruit who ranks fourth in the state with 26.1 points a game to go along with 9.4 rebounds, missed a three-point loss to Seymour because of a sprained ankle.
Sandwiched around that Seymour game were losses to Class 4A No. 3 Zionsville and 4A No. 7 Bedford North Lawrence. Two of East’s early-season defeats came at 4A No. 4 Fishers and 4A No. 6 Hamilton Southeastern.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that we’ve played one of the toughest schedules in Indiana,” Brown said. “But we talked when we were 5-11 that we were still playing pretty good basketball.”
While Stahl has carried the scoring load for the Olympians, she’s had help from senior post player Leah Bachmann (8.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg), junior guard Jenna Guse (5.9 ppg), senior guard Maeleigh Roberts (5.5 ppg) and Craig (5.4 ppg).
“Quite honestly, I know that all of us are just sick of losing,” Bachmann said. “At practice, we really worked on our press. We started doing our full-court press again, so that’s really helped. We got a bunch of steals off of that, so that has been super helpful. We’ve been working really hard in practice and bringing a lot of energy to practice, but going into the sectional with momentum and those wins is super helpful.”
East, which has won the Hoosier Hills Conference title the past two years, is out of the running for a third in a row and will wrap up HHC play Thursday at home against Jennings County. The Olympians host Madison on Saturday, visit Silver Creek on Wednesday and finish the regular season at home against Cathedral on Jan. 26.
The draw is Sunday for the Shelbyville Sectional, which begins Jan. 31.
“The goal was down the stretch, with these final six games that were left, to see if we could get some momentum,” Brown said. “We talked about getting momentum going into the sectional, and so far, we’ve won two of those six. We have a tough one ahead on Thursday, and we still have Madison, Silver Creek on the road and Cathedral here on senior night. The last two games, we’ve probably played our best basketball of the year, and that’s kind of what we’re aiming for, so we should be ready come sectional time.”
