BLACKSVILLE — In a rematch of sectional foes, Clay-Battelle’s girls’ basketball team played host to Trinity in hopes to avenge a 46-43 loss in mid-January. Head coach David Joyce’s Cee-Bees (9-6) came into the game riding a five-game win streak but were unable to split the season series with Warriors (9-8), falling, 32-29.
Trinity led most of the first half but relinquished their lead after the Clay-Battelle went on a
6-1 run in the final four minutes of the second quarter to secure a
16-15 advantage at the break. In the third, the home team stretched its lead by eight with the aid of Alicia Keener and Riley Burnette who chipped in eight of the team’s nine third-quarter buckets, but Trinity head coach Mike Baldy said his Trinity girls kept their cool.
“This past Saturday, we had a nice lead up in Moorefield and it started to dwindle a little bit and we hit the panic button and everyone played tense,” he said. “Tonight, even after getting behind we made it a point to just stay cool, stay relaxed. Luckily, tonight our defense really hung in there because we went a long time without scoring.”
Despite Trinity’s 10-minute drought that stretched late into the third quarter, the Warriors chipped away at the Cee-Bees lead and took a one-point 30-29 advantage with three minutes left off a Rachel Rosen bucket and foul for a three-point play. The Warriors came away with a second-straight win after losing seven of their last eight.
As for Clay-Battelle’s head man, he said his team’s loss came down to one thing.
“This loss was on open looks blown at the end,” Joyce said. “You can’t beat a team with only 29 points on the board. It doesn’t matter what kind of calls come and go, we just have to hit those shots. We had good shooters with open looks and they couldn’t fall. You expect to beat a team at home holding them to 32 points.”
Both defenses were on display tonight as Clay-Battelle and Trinity were both held below their season scoring averages of 40.3 and 55.18 points per game.
Trinity will host South Harrison on Feb. 1, while Clay-Battelle hosts Valley-Wetzel.
