Inconsistent Play Plaguing Blues
Two games. One quarter in each.
That was the difference between victory and a couple of defeats as the Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team lost a pair of home contests last week, falling to Riverheads 50-37 last Wednesday before losing to Craig County 46-37 in the Jaden Baker Tournament on Saturday.
“That seems to be the theme for us right now: we can’t put four consistent quarters together,” said PM head coach Adam Gilbert, whose team fell to 0-3 in the early season. “We’re young, for the most part. [Now] we have to make the adjustments, be willing to make the adjustments. That comes in time. That comes with playing, with practice.”
Against Riverheads, it was the second period that proved to be the Blues’ undoing. After struggling to a 10-7 lead by the end of the first quarter, the Blues watched the visiting Gladiators (3-1) bury a barrage of 3-pointers and take control.
The Gladiators drained six of their 10 attempts from long range in the second quarter. Avery Glover hit the first with 6:53 to play in the period to give Riverheads its first lead, 12-11, an advantage the Gladiators would never relinquish. Glover went on to sink three more treys, including a pair in the final two minutes, to give the visitors a 28-15 advantage at halftime.
“That was an adjustment that we were trying to make, but we couldn’t figure it out,” said Gilbert. “We had a bad second quarter. They hadn’t shot that well in their first couple of ball games. It was one of those games when you shake their hands and say, ‘You were a little better than us tonight.’” Glover finished with a game-high 22 points to lead Riverheads, and she made six three-pointers. Abi Bennington chipped in 11 points for the Gladiators, who shot just 29 percent (18-of-62) from the field in the contest but went 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range.
While Riverheads found its range in that second period, the Blues, who shot 50 percent from the field in the first period, went ice cold. PM failed to tally a field goal for nearly five minutes in the quarter leading up to halftime. PM’s first bucket did not come until Josie Martinez scored in the paint at the 3:10 mark.
To compound the difficulties, the Blues committed eight turnovers in the period and finished with 27 turnovers for the game. The Gladiators took advantage, turning those second-quarter miscues into 12 points.
The Blues fought back in the second half, cutting the lead to 39-31 when Caroline Watts hit a 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and when Patience Hill canned a baseline jumper with 4:30 left in the final stanza, PM had pulled to within five points, 41-36. However, the Blues scored just one point the rest of the way, and the Gladiators closed the game with a 9-1 run.
Kayleigh Ramsey paced the Blues with 12 points. Martinez added 10 points to the PM cause, and Hill finished with eight. Emory Slagle pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and dished out seven assists for the Blues.
CC 46, PM 37
While the second quarter was the deciding period against Riverheads, the third quarter proved to be the difference in Saturday afternoon’s contest against Pioneer District rival Craig County.
As part of the 11th annual Jaden Baker Tournament, the Blues were scheduled to play host to Stuarts Draft on Friday night, but Friday’s games were canceled due to inclement weather. The tournament honors the memory of Buena Vista native Jaden Baker, an 8-year-old who died in a car accident in 2013.
Against Craig County, the Blues led 17-13 at halftime, but the Rockets opened the second half with a full-court press that befuddled the Blues. Martinez took a pass from Ramsey and converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give PM a 20-17 lead with 5:26 remaining in the third period, but Craig County closed the quarter on a 16-3 run, hounding the Blues into 2-of-11 shooting and six turnovers in the quarter and taking a 33-23 lead into the final quarter.
“[The pressure] kind of caught us off guard,” Gilbert said. “We didn’t have anybody in the middle, and when we got pressure in the backcourt, we didn’t see the floor.”
After Martinez’s basket, the Blues didn’t hit another shot from the field until Miranda Stanley scored after an offensive rebound with 15 ticks left. The Blues then went scoreless from the field for almost six minutes of the fourth quarter before Slagle finally hit a three with 2:38 to play.
Though the Blues did cut the Craig County lead to eight, 4234, late in the contest, it was not enough. PM went the final 2:15 without a field goal and shot just 22 percent (9-of-41) from the floor.
“We have to shoot better,” Gilbert said. “We have to understand situations: timing, spacing, all that stuff on the floor.”
Martinez, who was PM’s representative on the all-tournament team, paced the Blues with 15 points, while Ramsey added 11 markers. Craig County’s Emily Smith, who also earned a spot on the all-tournament team, led all scorers with 18 points, and Kallie Fisher tallied 13 points for the Rockets.
“We’ve seen some improvement,” said Gilbert of his young squad. “If we keep working and keep grinding, I think we’ll be all right. We just have to keep working and find a way. I think this group is up to the challenge; we just have to stay the course and eventually, hopefully, we’ll figure this thing out.”
The Blues were scheduled to play host to James River last night and will have a home game against Pioneer District rival Eastern Montgomery on Thursday before playing at Riverheads on Saturday, with both contests starting at 6 p.m. After Christmas, the Blues will take on local rival Rockbridge County in Lexington on Monday, Dec. 29, at 4 p.m.
PM’S KAYLEIGH Ramsey dribbles down the court while a defender awaits her. (Ronnie Coffey photo)
