Belgreen goes cold in 2nd half
By Staff
Mike Self, Franklin County Time
BELGREEN – Bernisha Harris scored 24 points on Thursday and R.A. Hubbard solved its problems at the foul line just in time to hold off Belgreen for a 61-46 win in Class 1A sub-regional play.
R.A. Hubbard advanced to face Marion County on Wednesday in the Northwest Regional Tournament, while the Lady Bulldogs ended their season with a record of 12-12.
Belgreen tied the game 26-26 on a basket by Amy Smith early in the third quarter, but the Lady Bulldogs then went ice cold from the field. R.A. Hubbard closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 36-28 lead.
"They were on offensively tonight and we were off," Belgreen coach Shauna Humphries said. "That was the bottom line. This was a big game, and our girls might have had a little too much adrenaline flowing. We just couldn't get any shots to fall."
The lead grew to 10 on a basket by Harris early in the fourth quarter, but Candice Allen nailed a three-pointer to bring Belgreen back within seven at 42-35 with 4:40 remaining.
R.A. Hubbard responded by making ten straight free throws over the next three minutes, opening up the lead to 56-44 with 1:41 left.
After going just 6-for-15 from the foul line in the first three quarters, the Lady Chiefs made 13-of-16 free throws in the fourth. Chasity Puryear made all eight of her free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.
"In all the games I had seen them play this year, they were not a good free throw shooting team," Humphries said. "They were really on from the line in the fourth quarter."
Humphries also said the Lady Chiefs shot the ball better from the perimeter than she anticipated.
"I knew they would make a few threes, but they made more than I expected," she said. "They were pretty deep behind the line on some of them, and we didn't do a good enough job of getting out to cover them."
Harris made two threes as R.A. Hubbard got out to an early lead, but Deborah Billingham banked in a trey as time expired in the first quarter to cut the lead to 13-12.
The Lady Chiefs made two more threes in the second quarter and led 26-24 at the half behind 14 points from Harris.
"She's a good player," Humphries said. "She had a big game for them tonight."
Both teams finished with six three-pointers.
Billingham led Belgreen with 15 points, including three treys.
Kellie Oliver added nine points, and Allen made two threes and finished with eight points.
Puryear finished with 15 points for R.A. Hubbard, including 10 of them in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Chiefs out-scored Belgreen 25-18 in the fourth quarter and 35-22 in the second half.
