Gallery by Heather Belcher
Beckley girls basketball coach Brian Nabors has been racking his brain over the first month of the season in an effort to find an offense that suits his young team.
Saturday’s showing indicates it’s still a work in progress.
The Lady Flying Eagles shot just 24 percent from the field after quarantining all week, falling to University 48-32 in the New River CTC Invitational Saturday evening at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
A jumper from Maddie Belcher followed by 3s from Lataja Creasey and Abby Dillon staked Beckley to an 8-0 advantage in the first quarter but afterwards it was a struggle. The hosts scored just nine points in the middle two quarters as a halftime deficit of two points reached 16 by the end of the third quarter.
“We’re just struggling period,” Nabors said. “Our personnel, we’re just having a hard time running anything. We can’t run anything in a half court set. We’re having difficulty running things in a half-court set and the only time we can stay alive is when we get a ball screen. We’ve got to get better and I have to do a better job putting them in position to be able to have an opportunity to score. We normally don’t have a problem getting shots off, the problem with us has been turning the ball over.”
After yielding an 8-0 advantage in the opening quarter the Hawks countered with seven straight but Dillon’s second trey of the quarter made it an 11-7 game in favor of Beckley heading into the final frame.
That’s when the Lady Flying Eagles’ offensive woes became apparent.
They went scoreless over the first four minutes, yielding the lead to University which opened the frame with a 6-0 run.
A free throw from Josie Cross broke the drought and four straight points from Bell Staples put the hosts back on top but a layup from Eden Gibson and a free throw from Hannah Stemple reestablished order for the visitors.
Helping the Hawks was their ability to crash the glass and cash in on second-chance opportunities. They came away with 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, helping them to an 18-16 advantage at the break.
“I just think playing in this venue is tough,” University head coach Nick Lusk said. “I just think the backdrop and everything makes a difference. Once we got used to it that helped. Our defense helped too. We’ve been working on that matchup zone. They’re starting to get it and we rebounded well today. We haven’t been a very good rebounding team but we’re starting to get that too. They’re starting to understand what it takes to win games and it’s defense and rebounding.”
The offensive woes were magnified in the third quarter for Beckley as it made just one field goal in the frame. On the flip side the Hawks converted on 52 percent of their shots in the middle quarters, holding a 36-20 advantage after three.
The hosts never threatened in the fourth, trailing by as many as 21 points.
“Normally turning the ball over is the reason we can’t get shots off,” Nabors said. “We’ve just got to get better. Our defense was breaking down and we weren’t fundamentally sound. Again we’ve just got to get back to the drawing board. We got to go back to the basics from fundamental defense to simplifying an offense where we can get people an opportunity to score. Right now we’re having a hard time scoring. Every thing’s a struggle and a fight. We have no flow right now.”
Stemple led University with 11 points while Dillon led Beckley with eight.
The loss drops the Flying Eagles to 2-5 on the season as they’ll host regional foe Capital on Tuesday.
U: 7 11 18 12 – 48
B: 11 4 4 12 – 32
University 48
Ashlynn Weaver 4, Emily Sharkey 8, Lauren Dean 9, Eden Gibson 7, Ella Simpson 5, Jermiah Martin 4, Hannah Semple 11
Beckley 32
Lataja Creasey 3, Olivia Ziolkowski 4, Josie Cross 6, Abby Dillon 8, Somalia Nelson 2, Madison Belcher 5, Bella Staples 4
3-point goals – 3 (Gibson 1, Semple 2); B: 4 (Creasey 1, Dillon 2, Belcher 1).
