Princeton – Missing point guard Donya Burton, Beckley needed to find a capable replacement on the fly.
That never materialized.
The Flying Eagles turned the ball over 25 times Monday night, falling 56-41 at Princeton. Without Burton (sprained MCL) the Flying Eagles were never able to get comfortable in the half court and utilize their size advantage.
“We’re looking for more times to extend things and get back,” Princeton head coach Matt Smith said. “If we want to play a certain way we have to look for times to be aggressive- full-court aggressive, half-court aggressive. Switching those things we got them out of a rhythm there in the first half and made it more compact. Take away some of the driving lanes – which in the third I thought they did a really good job attacking pinch areas against us.”
Of those turnovers 14 came on steals, giving the Tigers live-ball turnovers and the fast break opportunities that came with them. As a result the hosts shot 42 percent from the field, netting 47 percent (16-for-34) of their shots from inside the arc.
“There’s no confidence with the basketball,” Beckley head coach Brian Nabors said. “You can’t turn the ball over – I think we had 14 turnovers in the first half and were down 13. In this type of environment – Princeton – you’re not going to win like that. That’s just the bottom line.”
With Burton missing the Tigers were able to key in on Beckley standout Zoey Williams, erasing her from the game for much of it. The sophomore was held scoreless in the first half.
“Once you know Donya’s not out there you can zero in a little bit more,” Smith said. “Once we saw that it was just going to be (Williams) we said at least two sets of eyes at all times on her. But again, having to handle the ball the full length of the court and trying to set up offensively and gt into every look, it was frustrating for her.
“I think that was a big part of the first half. She was having to do so much it was frustrating her. Now, in the second half she’s an all-state player for a reason. I don’t know what she ended up with but she got looks. You can only contain somebody like that for so long but I thought our girls did a really nice job just knowing where she was.”
The Tigers took an early advantage when Abbey Honaker scored on a layup followed by a pair of free throws from Tylar Burks for an 8-2 lead.
A pair of buckets from Karsyn Gunter and Naveah Mitchell cut the deficit to two but saw it shoot back to six when Kylee Jackson nailed a buzzer-beating 3 for a 15-9 Princeton advantage after a quarter.
Behind seven second quarter points from Addy McCabe and five more from Maeann Stroupe, that advantage ballooned to 31-18 at the intermission.
The Tigers took their largest lead of the game midway through the third quarter when McCabe made it a 40-21 advantage but a 12-2 run from the Flying Eagles brought them back into contention, trailing 46-36 after three.
“I thought we played with a little more toughness and took care of the basketball,” Nabors said. “We took the shots we needed to take and then we lost it. We just panicked, started panicking again and things weren’t really going our way but that’s no excuse. You expect that when you come down here. It’s like that every year. No excuses – we got our butts kicked tonight.”
A layup from Gunter, who finished with a game-high 17 points brought Beckley to within eight with just over six minutes to go before Williams made it a 47-40 game later in the frame. But Williams’ bucket proved to be the last of the evening for the visitors who netted just five points in the fourth quarter.
“I think a big part of that is – you go back and look at their run and we were late getting to those pinch areas,” Smith said. “They attacked the pinch areas and that leaves the backside rebounding open and they were able to get some good put backs there. It was settling ourselves down and knowing what we did to be successful. Even in the half court if we don’t give up penetration, our rebounding is much better.
“You’ve got to work the entire possession but I thought they did a really good job there in the third attacking our zone and then if they weren’t making the shot being able to rebound it on the backside and get some easy putbacks. Brystal, Tyler, Natalie and our guards always rebound it well and once they got their legs back we started rebounding a little better.”
Williams joined Gunter in double figures with 10 points for the Flying Eagles.
Abbey Honaker led the Tigers with 14 points while Natalie Rose and Addy McCabe scored 11 each.
Beckley
Shyloh Mack 6, Naeveah Mitchell 2, Zoe Williams 10, Maggie Ringwald 3, Allana Ellis 3, Karsyn Gunter 17
Princeton
Abbey Honaker 14, Addy McCabe 11, Kylee Jackson 7, Natalie Rose 11, Tylar Burks 2, Brystal Winfrey 5, Maeann Stroupe 6
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