Watching his team go through a walk-through on Jan. 5, Brush girls basketball coach Demarris Winters wondered what his team would look like on Jan. 6 when the visiting Canton McKinley Bulldogs were coming to town. After all, because of injuries and illness, it had been a while since Winters saw his team at full strength. And the Jan. 5 walk-through didn’t reveal that much — practices rarely do — so Winters was curious to see what the full-strength Arcs would look like. The answer: They look pretty darn good. Tatiana Mason scored 21 points and the inside-outside duo of guard Chaniyra McDowell-Isaacs and forward Jakalyn Brown had 13 points each as Brush hammered McKinley, 67-34, in a contest that looked more like a Brush layup drill than an actual basketball game because of the Arcs’ ferocious defensive pressure. “I told the kids at halftime and before, ‘We’re not where we’re GOING to be,'” Winters said. “We haven’t had a practice with everybody there in a couple of weeks. Maybe months.” The game between Brush (10-2) and McKinley (7-7) was supposed to be a barn-burner. The Bulldogs were coming off a 17-point win over Gilmour Academy, a Lancers team that lost to Brush by a similar score. It didn’t live up to the billing. Brush ran out to a 24-9 lead after one and a 39-16 lead at the half when McDowell-Isaacs scored in transition of one of the two dozen turnovers the Arcs forced. “Our transition is crazy,” McDowell-Isaacs said. “It’s like that every game. That’s how we practice.” McDowell-Isaacs, who along with Mason was an All-Ohioan as a freshman last season, missed a handful of games with an injury, but said it felt to get back, noting, “When I came back, I had to pick up where I had started.” She and her teammates continued to do that coming out of the locker room at halftime. A 10-3 run opened a 47-23 lead, with Nyla Mason putting in a pair of baskets, including one off a steal and assist from Brown. Even when McKinley hit a bucket to stem the tide, Brush scored the final nine points of the quarter. The final bucket was an impressive show of unselfishness, as Nyla Mason gave up an uncontested layup to dish her her big sister for the hoop. “We did a good job of sharing the ball,” Winters said. “We’ve got seven or eight good players on this team. If you’re going to share the ball, you’re going to get it back.” Much of the fourth quarter was played with a running clock, with both teams emptying their benches to get the reserves into the game. Winters lauded his team’s tenacity, especially on the defensive end where the guards pressured the McKinley ball-handlers unmercifully knowing that 6-foot-4 rim protector Brown was lurking behind them. “Even when we go to our 2-1-2 zone, the game plan is to be aggressive al the time and let Jakalyn sit in the middle and help everybody out,” Winters said. Tatiana Mason summed it up saying, “We’re playing really good. We’re sharing the ball and the chemistry is coming together.” Brush, which extended its winning streak to nine games, hosts Shaw this week and then has four practice days before a Jan. 15 showdown against Avon Lake. Winters said he’s looking forward to those practices, maybe more so than the games. “We can be a better team,” he said. “Offensively, we could execute better. Defensively, we can be in our spots better. With these practices, I think we are going to be a better team going down the stretch.”