Gallery by Heather Belcher
Thursday night the annual clash between Beckley and Greenbrier East was a battle of two teams in different stages of development in the early part of the regular season.
While the Flying Eagles came in undefeated, they were still a team looking to find some effective chemistry in the early going.
The Spartans on the other hand returned all five starters from last year’s state tournament team and had won all five of their starts thus far.
Experience won the night.
Scoring the first seven points of the contest, Greenbrier East never trailed in a 77-57 win over Beckley.
“They just punched us in the mouth. I thought we were ready to play, but they punched us in the mouth,” Beckley head coach Brian Nabors said. “We didn’t do a good job with their pressure in the beginning. Finally, we settled down and we did a good job against their press. Defensively, we just didn’t have it tonight. That is on me. I didn’t have them prepared for this type of team. (Greenbrier East) is a very talented team the way they shoot the basketball.”
After the quick start by the visitors, the home squad fought back within three points, but when the first quarter horn sounded, the Spartans led 22-14.
A triple from Jada Waller built the lead to double figures for the first time before a 10-0 run by the Spartans midway through the quarter pushed the advantage out to 18 points.
With her team leading by eight points, Mackenna McClure scored on a spin move in the lane to start the decisive run.
Kennedy Stewart followed with a 3-pointer after she side-stepped a closing defender and McClure knocked in two charity tosses.
A kickout from McClure to Jada Waller, who canned another long ball, capped the spurt for a 40-22 lead.
“Kennedy has a heart like a lion and Ava is the same way. Both of those kids played really hard,” Greenbrier East head coach and current West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said. “Look what Jada did tonight and don’t forget Mackenna. If I were to give a game ball tonight, I would probably give it to Mackenna. She does everything. She played great defense and absolutely rebounds the ball great. She makes thing happen non-stop. We had a lot of people that could have gotten a game ball.”
Beckley fought back to trail by 14 points at the break, but another run from East to open the third period put the game to bed for all intents and purposes.
“We were just a step behind the whole night. We couldn’t keep them in front of us and we couldn’t make adjustments,” Nabors said. “They were running that weave. It is a simple weave, but when you have players that can play, handle the basketball and make good decisions, if the defense is not on its toes and moving it is going to be effective. They were successful running that weave.”
A strong drive to the rim by Waller was countered by a score from Josie Cross before East erupted on another 10-0 burst. Seven of the points coming from Workman.
“They wanted it more. The first few minutes dictated the game. They set the tone,” Nabors said. “They wanted it more coming in our house and knew it was going to be a hostile environment. They just wanted it more.”
“Greenbrier East has a good team and this team is just not ready for that type of talent right now,” Nabors went on to say. “We will be. This is a good game for us. We needed that to see where we are. We are not where we need to be, but we will work at it and get better.”
A score by Hannah Fuller, who also grabbed eight rebounds, that beat the third quarter horn gave East a 66-40 lead heading to the final eight minutes of play.
“We pressed them in a diamond press and came out of that in a four-man, one-man zone,” Justice said. “It looks like a man (defense), but it is not a man. In all honesty, it was the last defense we had when we played Bridgeport in the state championship finals. I kept it and kept it and I thought it would confuse them and I think it did. They have a really nice team, but we cut off their speed. We got back and we practiced that a bunch. Everything else just fell in place. We have ball handlers and we have shooters.”
Nabors agreed that the defensive effort from the Spartans did give his team some trouble, but that was just part of the equation.
“A lot of it had to do with their defense, but a lot had to do with our decision making,” Nabors said. “We made some poor decisions. Defense causes maybe half of that, but some of it was just us not concentrating and not taking care of the basketball.”
“Greenbrier East knew about Beckley coming in,” Nabors continued. “They knew Beckley was scoring 80 points a game and getting up and down the floor. That was a challenge for them. They accepted the challenge. They dictated tempo and they took control of the game. They beat us handily tonight.”
Beckley cut the lead back to 15 points in the fourth quarter, but a 3-point play from Fuller stemmed the tide for the Spartans.
“We have a bunch of kids that can shoot and they know a lot of stuff. No question about that,” Justice said. “We have kids that have worked hard a longtime together and they are really tough. They have their act together, but we can get better.”
GE: 22 21 23 11 – 77
B: 14 15 11 17 – 57
Greenbrier East
Ava Workman 23, Kennedy Stewart 17, Jada Waller 19, Mackenna McClure 10, Hannah Fuller 8.
Beckley
Josie Cross 14, Donya Burton 6, Abby Dillon 12, Aluna Ellis 11, Zoey Williams 9, Karsyn Gunter 4.
