Gallery by Heather Belcher
Beckley head girls basketball coach Brian Nabors said he did not want to be made out to be a defensive wizard.
That may be tough to do after Tuesday night.
A defensive adjustment at halftime was the spark that the Flying Eagles needed to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and defeat Region 3 rival George Washington 59-55.
“I thought even when we got down that we stayed the course. I thought we kept fighting and scrapped and clawed,” Nabors said. “I am just proud of the defensive effort, but I am also proud of the offensive end. We executed some things that tells me that our team is really starting to come together and understand our system.”
A big reason Beckley was down at the break was the 12 points scored by 6-foot-2 sophomore Zaniah Zellous who was a handful inside, especially early.
“She is really athletic and tall. You can tell she is a good player,” Beckley forward Josie Cross said. “You have to be physical and try to not let her get the ball.”
The defensive shift at halftime looked like a zone, but still had the classic Beckley man-to-man principles.
“I made that up at halftime,” Nabors admitted about the defense his team implored. “It is like a 3-2 (zone), or 1-2-2 defense. We just told Josie to play Zellous everywhere she goes. Body her up and front her. Be tough, play her like man-to-man and everybody else play an area.”
“We are a man-to-man team,” Nabors continued. “Every defense we play has man-to-man principles. They understand we have to help each other out. We just created another defense.”
Abby Dillon found Cross free to open the second half, but when Siya Smith connected for a 3-pointer, the Patriots had their biggest lead of the night at eight points.
With her teammates starting to create havoc across the floor, Cross was neutralizing Zellous, while also being a beast on the glass.
“Josie Cross is just so tough around the glass. I told (my team) that they had not figured out how hard she was playing and how quickly we needed to address that,” George Washington head coach Jamie LaMaster said. “We never did all night. She has that old school grit and mentality (where) that rebound is hers. She has embraced that role.”
After Zellous scored eight points in the opening quarter, Cross was determined to get control in the paint.
“I got kind of aggravated and we also changed defenses. I was on her wherever she went,” Cross said. “I just fronted her and tried to not let her get the ball. Our guards did a good job with pressure, so they couldn’t get the ball down to her as well.”
With GW struggling to get the ball inside to Zellous and the 3-pointers not finding the mark, Beckley gradually cut into the lead.
An aggressive move to the basket by Cross ended in a traditional 3-point play which moved the home team within one point of the lead.
The visitors answered with a score, but Cross quickly put back an offensive rebound on the next possession.
Following a defensive stop, a hard drive by freshman Donya Burton gave Beckley its first lead since the 5:49 mark of the second quarter.
Finley Lohan’s bucket gave the Patriots their final lead of the night before the young Beckley freshman electrified the crowd again.
Left alone at the 3-point line, Burton drilled the first of her two long balls on the night. She backed that big shot up with a layup following a Mya Wooton steal.
“We knew they would go in at halftime and make some adjustments. They came out in a 1-3-1 and we do what everyone does and went to a two-guard set,” LaMaster said. “We weren’t hitting from the outside, but I thought we took good shots and unselfish shots.”
Lohan beat the buzzer to cut the lead back to two, but an elbow jumper from Cross and a score from Keanti Thompson gave Beckley a 46-40 lead.
The Patriots refused to go away and battle back to tie the game at 48-apiece, aided by a 3-pointer from Macie Mallory and a score from Zellous.
Back-to-back scores from Burton pushed the lead back to four points before Zellous cut the lead in half with a pair of free-throws.
With just over a minute to play, GW again chose to back off of Burton who drilled a corner 3-ball for a 55-50 lead.
“We were laying back off her, not to be disrespectful, but if we chose a shooter, we wanted it to be her. She chose the (right) time to hit one,” LaMaster said.
While some may have been a bit surprised with the bold shot by Burton, Nabors was not one of them.
“We want her to shoot if they are going to leave them open. If somebody lays off you, that is disrespectful. They are saying you can’t shoot,” Nabors said. “We take a lot of shots and she works hard on her game. You better shoot the basketball and have confidence that you are going to make it. If you miss it, we believe in our team to rebound the ball and put it back in the basket.”
The one controlling the rebounding for Beckley talked about having the courage to take those big shots.
“Donya works so hard. It is nerve-racking to have to take those shots, but her hard work paid off,” Cross said. “That is what you have to rely on in those times when you are young, your had work.”
Beckley led 59-52 before a 3-pointer from Lohan that beat the buzzer for the final margin.
“We lost a close one this past weekend at Parkersburg. We fought back and the game was in our favor, but we didn’t take care of business,” Nabors said. “We knew we had to come out tonight and play our best game against a quality team to get a win.”
Burton ended the night with 18 points, while Cross scored 15 and Dillon had 11 points.
“GW is such a well coached team and they can shoot the basketball. Lohan is such a good shooter,” Nabors said. “I am just so proud of them executing on the offensive end and really stepping up defensively. I thought we did a good job of staying aggressive and not being passive. The plan from the jump was to use our speed to get an advantage and they did that.”
Zellous led all scorers with 20 and Lohan scored 19.
Beckley (8-6) plays Parkersburg South Friday at St. Albans High School.
GW: 10 17 13 15 – 55
B: 12 8 22 17 – 59
George Washington
Finley Lohan 19, Siya Smith 9, Macie Mallory 3, Michaela Harmon 4, Zaniah Zellous 20. Totals: 21 6-11 55.
Beckley
Abby Dillon 11, Josie Cross 15, Lataja Creasey 3, Keanti Thompson 4, Maddy Belcher 5, Donya Burton 18, Mya Wooton 2. Totals: 25 5-8 59
3-pointers – GW: 7 (Lohan 3, Smith 3, Mallory); B: 4 (Dillon, Belcher, Burton 2).
