Adversity comes in all shapes, sizes and quantities. The Brush girls basketball team faced most of them on Dec. 21 — a tough opponent on the road on the first day of Christmas break with two starters out of action. The Arcs persevered, taking a hard-fought 58-52 win over Gilmour . The Mason sisters — Tatiana and Nyla — scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, and Keyarra Shields added 14 for Brush, which played without point guard Chaniyra McDowell Isaacs (wrist) and 6-foot-4 forward Jakalyn Brown (ankle). The win improves the Arcs’ record to 5-2, while Gilmour falls to 2-4. “A 2 o’clock game, it’s cold outside, we’re missing some pieces,” Brush coach Demarris Winters said, rattling off the adversity his team was facing. “It’s good because it becomes a mental thing. It’s mental toughness, and we got better today.” The Arcs trailed for a good portion of the first half, including a 30-28 deficit at the half when Celia Duffy hit a buzzer-beater to give the Lancers the lead at intermission. And when Elaina Kline-Ruminski hit a pair of driving baskets and Duffy netted a slick reverse layup, the Arcs were on the downside of 41-35 score. “We just had to play as a team,” Tatiana Mason said of the key to get back in the game. “At the beginning of the game we were kind of off. We were missing our point guard. We had to play as a team without her. We had to figure it out.” They did figure it out. Coming out of a timeout, Tatiana Mason hit a shot, followed by a Samiya Lyles bucket and a 3-pointer by Nyla Mason for a 42-41 lead. From then on in, Gilmour struggled to get back control of the game. “Mason is such a good player — both of them,” Gilmour coach Kevin Byrne said. “Tatiana really hurt us on the boards in the second half. There are things we can do better and we’re going to keep working to get better.” Brush took a 48-45 lead into the fourth quarter. Lyles hit Nyla Mason for an and-one to open a 52-45 lead. But that’s when Brush pulled the ball out and ran a lot of time off the clock. A few transition buckets late in the game stretched the lead out to 58-49 before Kline-Ruminski hit a late 3 to finish the scoring at 58-52. Kline-Ruminski had 18 to pace Gilmour, while Tia Shaw had 11. Both Morgan Pfundstein and Duffy had 10. “(Kline-Ruminski) is so talented,” Byrne said. “I thought she played really well today. When she draw that help and kicks it, we have some good shooters.” Gilmour plays at Jefferson on Dec. 23. “We’re close,” Byrne said of his team. So is Brush. Winters said his team should be healthy by the turn of the new year. In unison, the Mason girls said the team goal is a Division III state championship. “We’re big, strong and we’re fast,” Winters said. “When I have my 15 players all here, we can play with anybody in the state.” The score Brush 58, Gilmour 52