Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
Floyd thumps Bassett
Lady Buffaloes get revenge, even series
Bassett's Julia Scales (center) tries to keep the ball away from Floyd County's Karina Miller (right) and Taylor Britt (left) in the first half Tuesday at Bassett. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
By CHASE YOUNG - Bulletin Sports Writer
Floyd County’s girls basketball team brought the intensity and left with a 63-46 win over the Lady Bengals Tuesday night in Bassett.
“They came ready to play,” said Bengals coach Melissa Blair of the Lady Buffaloes.
“Their intensity was just unbelievable tonight,” she added. “They were ready to play, and we definitely weren’t.”
Due in great part to its full-court press, which forced six turnovers in the game’s first 5 minutes, Floyd County shot out to a 13-0 lead before Bassett’s Iesha Smith sent an inbounds pass to Diandra Thompson for an easy layup and the Bengals’ first points of the night.
“(We) came out with a lot of energy at the very beginning, got off to a good start shooting, very aggressive on offense attacking, and then our defense was very aggressive too, creating stuff for us,” said Buffaloes coach Allen Cantrell. “I think that fast start’s what got us off on the right foot.”
Floyd County (9-2 overall) finished the first quarter on a 6-3 run to enter the second frame with a 19-7 lead and, despite having a 12-point cushion early, never let up.
“Their defense is always very intense, but tonight it was up a level from intense,” said Blair.
Bassett (7-3 overall, 2-0 Piedmont District) pulled to within six points of the lead early in the second quarter when Julia Scales hit a jumper inside the lane, but the Bengals were never able to come as close again.
The Buffaloes responded to Scales’ jumper with 10 unanswered points capped by a 3-pointer from Emmalene Hale for a 16-point lead (29-13) with 5 minutes to go before the break.
The Bengals trailed 35-27 at halftime.
“I think to look at our bright side, the best thing that happened was we didn’t quit,” said Blair. “We were down by as many as 18 at one point and we didn’t quit.”
Floyd continued to build on its lead in the second half and led by 19 (50-31) in the third quarter when Maria Kuchenbuck stole the ball and sent in a layup in transition.
While the scoring evened in the fourth quarter, the Buffaloes still out-scored the Bengals 11-9 on their way to avenging their first loss of the season. That Floyd County loss came at the hands of the Bengals (49-39) earlier this year at Floyd County, but a few key differences allowed the Buffaloes to turn the tide this time around, according to Cantrell.
“The two things are: We didn’t take care of the ball as well up there, and we weren’t as aggressive on offense,” he said of the previous game.
Bassett, on the other hand, allowed Floyd to force numerous turnovers for baskets in transition, and as the Bengals struggled to get rebounds, the Buffaloes were given several second-shot opportunities, both of which were a large factor in the loss, Blair said.
“I hope this game serves as a wake-up call that the season is far from over,” said Blair.
Bassett’s Scales led all scorers with 19 points, and Iesha Smith added seven.
Floyd’s Carmen Bolt led her team in scoring with 15, and Bourne added 9.
The Bengals next play at 7:30 p.m. Friday when they travel to Magna Vista.
FCHS 63
BHS 46
Score by Quarters
FCHS — 19 16 17 11 — 63
BHS — 7 20 10 9 — 46
FCHS (9-2) — C. Bolt 6 (0) 3-7 15, B. Bourne 3 (1) 0-0 9, J. Nolen 3 (0) 1-2 7, K. Miller 3 (0) 0-0 6, B. Ingram 0 (2) 0-1 6, A. Courtney 2 (0) 0-0 4, K. Cox 0 (0) 2-2 2, M. Kuchenbuck 1 (0) 0-0 2, H. Bolt 0 (0) 1-2 1, T. Britt 0 (0) 1-2 1, Totals 18 (4) 12-20 63.
BHS (7-3) — J. Scales 7 (0) 5-9 19, I. Smith 2 (0) 3-7 7, C. Draper 2 (0) 0-0 4, L. Snead 2 (0) 0-2 4, D. Thompson 1 (0) 2-4 4, B. Burnette 1 (0) 2-5 4, S. Salmons 1 (0) 0-1 2, T. Law 0 (0) 2-2 2, Totals 16 (0) 14-29 46.
.jpg)
.jpg)
