BLACKSVILLE – With 3:23 left in the first quarter on Friday, the Clay-Battelle girls’ basketball team had scored just one point against visiting Doddridge County.
Cee-Bee head coach David Joyce couldn’t have been much happier.
The Bulldogs, ranked No. 4 in Class A, had only scored three points at that time and Clay-Battelle was running its offense and being patient with the basketball.
“We struggle from the floor, we really do,” Joyce said. “We ran offensive sets, we got open, we didn’t always score, but it looked like it was supposed to look.”
Doddridge County did finally find its scoring touch on the way to a 66-32 victory. However, Joyce was happy with the progress he saw.
“You don’t come off the floor losing by 30 and normally say how proud of your kids you are,” Joyce said. “But we limited our turnovers. That’s been very different from usual. We have been a little helter-skelter most of the time this year.”
For the season, the Cee-Bees (4-5) average right around 25 turnovers a contest. On Friday, they committed 16 and if it wasn’t for the six turnovers in the third quarter they would have finished well below the goal of 15 that Joyce set for his team.
“Doddridge is a good team,” Joyce said. “When they come down and play in your face the whole time and they are hitting shots, it’s going to be tough for us to beat them.”
The Bulldogs (11-3) held a 30-15 lead late in the second quarter when Kaitlynn Eastham hit a jumper before halftime and then Kenley Statler grabbed a rebound to start the third quarter and hit a putback jumper to cut the deficit to 30-19.
That was as close as the Cee-Bees were going to get the rest of the way, as Doddridge County went on a 9-0 run to put the contest away.
Clay-Battelle’s offense was also limited as senior Reagan Darling, one of the best finishers on the team, is battling an injury so the Cee-Bees can’t push the ball as much as they would like.
“I was very happy with our patience,” Joyce said. “(Doddridge) is quick enough to stop our fastbreak. We needed to find other ways to score.”
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were more than happy to turn the contest into a track meet with the speed of Abby McDonough and Emily Gola.
“We have been working on our man-to-man defense,” DC coach Lisa Cheesman said. “I thought we did a nice job at times of hedging and helping on their drives.”
McDonough scored eight of her game-high 25 points in the third quarter. The senior was also able to get to the foul line as she attempted 15 free throws in the game.
“Per man, that team is faster than every one of us,” Joyce said. “(McDonough) will take it really had to the basket – especially to her left – and if you don’t deny that lefthand dribble, she’s going to beat you.”
Gola added 15 for the Bulldogs while Dalton scored 11 to lead the Cee-Bees with Statler adding 10.
Clay Battelle returns to action on Monday when it hosts Valley Wetzel at 7 p.m.
By ERIC HERTER
1 2 3 4 F
DC 14 16 18 18 66
CB 7 10 10 5 32
DODDRIDGE COUNTY (11-3)
Holtz 1 0-0 2, Gola 6 0-0 15, Paugh 3 1-2 8, Lloyd 1 1-2 3, Trent 1 0-0 3, McDonough 9 5-15 25, Adams 2 3-5 7, Burnside 0 1-2 1, Williams 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 12-26 66.
CLAY BATTELLE (4-5)
Hennen 0 0-1 0, Darling 2 1-7 5, Eastham 1 0-0 1, Dalton 3 2-2 11, E. Moore 0 4-8 4, Statler 3 4-4 10. Totals: 9 12-25 32.
3-Pointers – CD: 6 (Gola 3, Paugh, Trent, McDonough) CB: 1 (Dalton).
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