MORGANTOWN — Coaches – in all sports, at all levels – will occasionally speak in cliches. That doesn’t mean they aren’t true.
“We gotta take ‘em one game at a time.” “You don’t score on 100% of the shots you don’t take.” “It’s a simple game – you throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball.”
On Wednesday night, the Trinity girls’ basketball team hosted Webster County, and following their frustrating, 45-29 loss, Warriors coach Chad Williams stated what could be, at first glance, the obvious: “You can’t win if you don’t make shots.”
In reality, his quote accurately encapsulated not only what went wrong for his team, but also what went right.
Both teams began the game very sloppy and disjointed offensively, both in their half-court sets and in transition. While the offenses certainly struggled, both defenses displayed quick hands (14 total turnovers) and strong defensive rebounding which limited the score to 8-8 after the first.
Trinity (3-7) scored five quick points to start the second quarter on a 5-2 run – then could find the range the rest of the half. Still, their stout defense stifled Webster County (9-5) until late, when the Highlanders managed to put together a 7-0 stretch to take a 17-13 lead into the locker room.
The Warriors continued their cold shooting in the second half, unable to score until the 3:00 minute mark of the third quarter. Yet they were still in it, largely by forcing 10 Webster County turnovers in the quarter (and 22 overall), and were still in it, trailing by only six heading into the final frame, 27-21. But a combination of Webster’s half-court trap, continued shooting maladies, and fatigue finally caught with the Warriors, as the Highlanders again held Trinity to single digits in the quarter – and found their rhythm on offense. They scored 18 to win going away, the 16-point final margin their largest lead of the game.
Webster County forward Harley Clevenger scored 9 points in the 4th quarter on her way to a game high 14 points, while center Beth Case was strong in the paint and scored 11. Kristen Kurilko scored 10 to pace the Warriors.
After a long post-game meeting with his team, Williams explained a few reasons why he spent an extended time with them.
“It felt like we needed it,” he said. “We spent time talking about the things we did well, which was without question our defense. We communicated well, used our feet and our arms, got into passing lanes, turned over the basketball, and battled on the boards against a long Webster County frontcourt. The effort was there for the full four quarters.
“But,” he continued with a weary smile, “you cannot win if you don’t make shots. We have been out of sync running our half-court offense lately, and we’ve been struggling from the field all season long. We shoot well enough in practice, but then if the outside shots don’t go down, we start to press and hurry, and down low, we aren’t squaring up and facing in games. Everybody is trying so hard to make something happen instead of letting the game come to them.”
Turnovers – a whopping 27 for Trinity – didn’t help the Warriors on either end of the court.
“We can’t give away chances to score,” he admitted, “but you’d hope that 22 defensive turnovers could lead to some easy transition baskets and take a little pressure of the half-court sets, but we missed a bunch of opportunities there as well.
“We’ll continue to grind, to work, to keep our heads up,” he concluded, “and hopefully we can shoot our way out of this offensive funk we’re in right now. We have Clay-Battelle back-to-back, and I think we’ll be ready for them.”
The Warriors travel to Mason-Dixon Conference rival Clay-Battelle at 6 p.m. Friday, then host the Cee-Bees in the opening round of the OVAC tournament at 6 p.m. Monday.
Box score
WEBSTER COUNTY (9-5)
Elise Moll 1 0-0 2 Aryana Hamrick 1 0-2 2 Maddie Williams 4 0-0 9 Harley Clevenger 5 4-6 14 Brennen McCracken 0 0-0 0 Josie Mathes 3 0-0 7 Beth Case 5 1-2 11, Totals 19 5-10 45.
TRINITY CHRISTIAN (3-7)
Sidney Deal 1 0-0 3 Kate Williams 2 3-4 7 Kaylin Kurilko 4 1-2 10 Jillian Conn 1 3-4 5 Marlo Flecker 2 0-0 4, Totals 10 7-10 29.
3-pointers: WC 2 (Williams, Mathes), TC 2 (Deal, Kurilko). Fouled Out – McCracken.
Preston 42, Robert C. Byrd 32
CLARKSBURG – The Preston High girls’ basketball team won its fourth consecutive game behind 19 points from Bella Miller and eight points and eight rebounds from Kendra Nazelrod.
The Knights, who had a season-low eight turnovers, held a 24-14 lead at the half and never trailed in the game.
Miller connected on five 3-pointers and teammate Ava Bishop had a solid game with five points, eight rebounds and five assists.
