BELLEVILLE — It was not the start that Brian Renno was looking for as the coach of the Belleville Mennonite girls basketball team on Tuesday night, as the Thunder fell to Northumberland Christian, 52-25 in an Allegheny Christian Athletic Association contest.

“I guess my biggest takeaway would be again trying to stress that when we’re under pressure and we’re panicking, and to try and teach the girls to relax and to take care of the ball,” Renno said. “I feel like we put a good first quarter together and then once Northumberland went into a man defense, they sped up our style of play and we weren’t able to adjust to it. They went on a big run in the second quarter and that was pretty much ball game.”

It was a clash of styles and the evidence was quite apparent at the start of the game as the Thunder was looking to keep a slow and steady approach to the game while the Warriors looked to get out and run. For a while, both teams were neck and neck with one another in the opening frame. But then Northumberland Christian turned up the pressure defensively and went on a late run to pull ahead, 17-8.

In the second quarter the size and length of the Warriors became too much for the Thunder as defensively they were running and gunning, scoring 21 points for the quarter. Belleville Mennonite struggled to make a single basket in the frame in large part due to the Northumberland Christian defense. The Warriors took a 38-8 lead into halftime.

“We felt that in the first quarter we were pretty active on defense,” Renno said. “And it seemedlike when they went on the run, we started to lost some stamina and we weren’t quite as active on defense. They really started to pound the ball into the paint and take advantage of their size against us.”

However the Thunder came out in the third quarter and appeared to have made some big adjustments as the Warriors were not able to run the floor like they did in the first half due to the Thunder’s transition defense.

The Thunder went back to the way they wanted to play and slowed the tempo down, cutting off the passing lanes for Northumberland Christian, forcing the Warriors to play a half-court style of basketball. In fact, the Thunder had outscored the Warriors for the entire second half, 17-14.

“I feel good about the first quarter and quarters three and four,” Renno said. “I felt like at halftime we were able to calm ourselves down and talk through the adjustments we needed to make as far as taking care of the ball. Looking for quality shots.”

Belleville Mennonite was led by Sonya Yoder who scored eight points for the evening.

The Thunder starts their season at (0-1, 0-1) and will look for their first win Friday as they travel to face Meadowbrook Christian.

Northumberland Christian 64, BMS 20

For the boys, Belleville Mennonite struggled to maintain the high powered offense of Northumberland Christian by the final score of 64-20 in its opening game of the season.

“Youth and inexperience,” Thunder coach Chase Peachey said. “We had that injury with Quinn (Renno), we were playing six there for the whole second half with guys who haven’t played varsity ball before.”

The Warriors came out and played physically on defense, forcing many turnovers from Belleville Mennonite. The Thunder were held to just nine points in the opening quarter of the game while Northumberland Christian scored 21 points.

The Warriors had five different players score a point in the the first quarter and had six different players score at least a basket in the second quarter. For the the entire first half of the game, Northumberland Christian had outscored Belleville Mennonite 45-12.

“They got 10 guys that they can throw at you,” Peachey said. “They’re a deep team, they were pushing the tempo down the floor and got easy buckets in transition.”

The defensive pressure did not let up in the second half as the Warriors continued to force Belleville Mennonite into mistakes on its offensive possessions. The Thunder were held to just eight points for the entire second half of the game.

Belleville Mennonite (0-1, 0-1) looks to get in the win column on Friday as the Thunder will meet Meadowbrook Christian at Meadowbrook Christian. Coach Peachey hopes to see a much different team.

“Just maturity out of my guys,” Peachey said. “Taking care of the ball. Transition defense, talking communicating, and sprinting back on defense.”

Girls Basketball

Northumberland Christian 52, Belleville Mennonite 25

NORTHUMBERLAND CHRISTIAN

Jenkia Krum 3 0-0 8, Eden Treas 2 1-2 7, Emily Garvin 6 2-4 14, Emily McCahan 2 0-0 4, Anna Ulmer 3 0-0 6, Emma Ulmer 6 1-2 13. Totals: 22 4-8 52.

3-point goals: Krum 2, Treas 2.

BELLEVILLE MENNONITE

Chloe Renno 3 0-0 6, Sonya Yoder 4 0-2 8, Natalie Yoder 2 0-0 5, Karina Renno 2 0-0 4. Totals: 11 0-2 25.

3-point goals: N. Yoder.

Score by quarters

BMS 8-0-9-8 – 25

NC 17-21-11-3 – 52

Boys Basketball

Northumberland Christian 64, Belleville Mennonite 20

NORTHUMBERLAND CHRISTIAN

Conner Bennett 4 0-0 8, Josh King 3 0-0 9, Sam Garvin 5 0-0 10, Luke Snyder 8 0-0 16, Henry McElroy 5 1-1 11, Alec Philips 1 2-2 4, Jackson Conner 1 0-0 2, Micah Moyer 3 0-0 6. Totals: 30 3-3 64.

3-point goals: King.

BELLEVILLE MENNONITE

Quinn Renno 3 0-0 7, Christopher Stoltzfus 3 1-4 7, Colton Sunderland 2 2-4 6, Evan Crosson 0 0-2 0. Totals: 8 3-10 20.

3-point goals: Renno.

Score by quarters

BMS 9-3-4-4 – 20

NC 21-24-10-9 – 64