Gallery by Heather Belcher
In a rematch of last year’s Class AAAA state quarterfinal the faces were different but the results were the same.
Spring Valley forced 17 first-half turnover and shot over 50 percent from the field and beyond the arc in that same span, claiming a 77-39 win over Beckley Wednesday night in the New River CTC Invitational at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
The Timberwolves trotted out many familiar faces from their victory over the Flying Eagles in March.
As for the Flying Eagles, Josie Cross and Leiloni Manns were the only two returners who played in that game and the Timberwolves feasted early. Eleven of those 17 first-half turnovers came in the first quarter.
“We’ve just got to get better fundamentally and we got to take care of the ball,” Beckley head coach Brian Nabors said. “We have to value the basketball value each possession. It’s that simple.”
Beckley held its ground early, leading 4-2 after a pair of free throws and a field goal from Somalia Nelson. Manns later made it a two-point game on a layup at 8-6 but the Wolves rolled from that point forward. Dria Parker scored on a layup and Haleigh Crum added another in transition, splitting a pair of free throws shortly afterwards. Parker accounted for the next five and Savannah Davis added a layup to cap a 12-0 run.
“That was that was our plan, to try to turn them over,” Spring Valley head coach Bo Miller said. “We wanted to double team and make them handle the ball play faster than what they wanted to because we like to play fast. And I think we after we got the turnovers, we shared the ball really well. I think we had 13 assists the first half which was great for us.”
Alauna Ellis and Nelson worked to trim the deficit back to 10 for Beckley and it sat at 11 early in the second quarter at 23-12.
But Spring Valley had little trouble cushioning its lead, ripping a 10-0 run that effectively removed any doubt of the final outcome.
“We did get some shots and they were open looks because of our penetration,” Miller said. “From our penetration and kick outs we got a lot of good looks early and when we shoot the ball, we can shoot it. Sometimes I gotta yell at them to shoot sometimes because they want to pass it too much.”
Even when Beckley could break the pressure, putting the ball in the basket was a struggle as well. As a team the Flying Eagles took just one less shot (58-57) despite the 25 turnovers they finished with but they made just 14 of them for a paltry 24 percent shooting performance.
Spring Valley finished at an even 50 percent from the field with eight makes from downtown.
“We’ve just got to concentrate and knock down shots,” Nabors said.
Parker led Spring Valley and all scorers with 19 points while Karysn Gunter paced Beckley with 12.
Spring Valley will play the winner of University-Huntington on Saturday afternoon at 2:45 while Beckley will face the loser Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m.
