Gallery by Heather Belcher
Charleston – Brian Nabors had to feel good about his Beckley Flying Eagle team heading into halftime.
Trailing by nine in the second quarter, they finished the half on a 6-0 run, held No. 3 Spring Valley without a field goal over the final 3:30 of the second quarter an trailed just 25-22.
And then the third quarter happened.
Spring Valley outscored Beckley 17-8 out of the break, forced six third-quarter turnovers and cashed in nine points off those giveaways, earning a 59-47 over the Flying Eagles in the Class AAAA state quarterfinals Tuesday morning at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
In a game where the teams took nearly the same amount of shots (48-44) and Beckley won the rebounding battle 36-24, turnovers were the difference.
Spring Valley won that battle 16-9 and scored 21 points off of giveaways while Beckley mustered just four.
“We just didn’t take care of the ball,” Nabors said. “I thought we played a little too passive at times. At times we just didn’t have good ball sureness and they took total advantage of us playing passive on the offensive end and got some steals and as you can see forced 16 turnovers. I think that was the difference in the game.”
It was script flip for the Flying Eagles who appeared poised to make a third-quarter run. Instead all of their momentum was abandoned in the locker room at the intermission.
Trailing 19-11 after 3s from Dria Parker, Rianne Henson and Hallie Bailey, Beckley closed the half with a 6-0 run after facing a 25-16 deficit with buckets from Abby Dillon, Lataja Creasey and Donya Burton.
And then came the miscues.
Two Beckley turnovers in the first 40 seconds helped the Timberwolves score five quick points with a layup from Brooklyn Ellis and a 3 from Haleigh Crum. Bailey added a layup and just 92 seconds into the half the Spring Valley lead was at 10.
“I think we took some bad shots in there,” Spring Valley coach Bo Miller said. “In the third quarter our defense really picked it up and put pressure on them and it led to some steals and runouts.”
When the Flying Eagles weren’t turning it over they still struggled to chip the deficit. They missed seven straight field goals in a three-minute span, a streak snapped by a Leiloni Manns layup.
When the third quarter horn rang, Spring Valley held a 42-30 advantage, backed by nine points scored off turnovers.
“I think it built their confidence,” Nabors said of Spring Valley. “I think their confidence went to another level. After we started that third quarter that way, their confidence level went to the roof because it was like they started getting into their offense and were comfortable with what they were doing. We had a hard time affecting them because we were fouling. That hurt us.”
The Flying Eagles found some success midway through the fourth quarter after a pair of Keanti Thompson free throws but the deficit to seven but a 3 point attempt from Creasey rattled in and out at the three minute mark, squashing the comeback bid.
Poor shooting another factor in Beckley’s lack of success as it only shot above 31 percent in the second quarter.
Spring Valley meanwhile got stronger as the game went on. After firing at a 21.4 percent clip in the opening frame, the Timberwolves shot above 50 percent in every other quarter including 61.5 percent in the decisive third frame.
“Defense – A lot of those shots were in transition, in the paint,” Miller said. “That leads to high percentage shots.”
Beckley finishes its season at 16-9 and will graduate a pair of starters ion Keanti Thompson and Lataja Creasey as well as bench players Maddy Belcher, Kaylyn Cougar, Abby Humphrey and Taylor Gunter.
Spring Valley advances to Thursday’s semifinals where it will face No. 2 Morgantown.
