Boys' Sports
Girls' Sports
For: September 08, 2010
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Turnovers Cost Lady Bears
BYMIKE BOWEN TIMES WEST VIRGINIAN
FAIRMONT — Just when it looked like East Fairmont’s girls’ basketball team would let another game slip through its fingers, the Bees got the biggest win of their season. East Fairmont came from behind twice Tuesday to knock off arch rival Fairmont Senior, 45-42, for its third win of the season.
The Bees’ Taylor Wright scored on a layup with 1:56 left in the game to give East a 43-42 lead at the FSHS gym, and East went 2-for-6 from the free-throw line the rest of the way to make things interesting before the final horn.
“We fought a lot of adversity tonight,” East Fairmont head coach Bill Malone said. “This is a tough place to get a win.
and we beat a good, wellcoached ball club tonight.”
East held a 7-6 advantage after the first quarter but started to fall behind in the second.
The Bees didn’t even take a shot at the basket in the second quarter until 3:55 left but thanks to Fairmont Senior turnovers only trailed 19-15 at the break.
The Polar Bears would push their lead to 10 midway through the third quarter on a free throw by Kaitlinn O’Neal that put them up 27-17.
East responded with a run near the end of the quarter that tied the game at 31-all, but on the ensuing play fouled FSHS’ Haylee Rosenberger 40 feet from the basket with 0.8 second left.
Rosenberger converted the first of the one-and-one opportunity to give the Bears a 32-31 lead heading into the final frame.
“I think the key all night was our turnovers,” Fairmont Senior head coach Ashley Reed said.
“We haven’t played well the last two games. You just can’t beat a good team if you don’t take care of the ball, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
East looked as if it would fall by the wayside again when the Polar Bears scored eight straight in the fourth to open up a sevenpoint lead midway through the quarter.
But the Bees outscored the Polar Bears 12-2 over the course of the final minutes to put the game away.
Abby Steele had six points during that run that keyed the victory.
But it was Lashley Mills’ free throw that sealed the deal for East.
Nursing a two-point lead with 10.8 seconds left.
Mills stepped to the line shooting two. The first was too strong and bounced offto the right. East was now 1for-5 from the line while trying to close out the Bears.
Mills’ next shot went in, giving the Bees a 3-point edge and the win.
“That was a huge free throw by Lashley,” Malone said. “She’s been struggling shooting free throws lately and that was a big, big shot to seal it for us. We’d give them a two, no problem.”
Steele and Taylor Wright, who hit the free throw to put the Bees up two with 39.3 left, led East with 11 points each. Tricia Moran chipped in 10 and Chele Faulkner had eight.
Katie Nunan and Rosenberger paced the Polar Bears with 10 points each. Anna Starkey chipped in seven and Brooklyn Little had six.
“East Fairmont deserved to win the game,” Reed said. “They played hard for all 32 minutes. I really respect Coach Malone, and he always has his girls ready.
“I thought we played hard and left everything on the floor, but we just turned the ball over too much.”
The Bees (3-11, 3-7 in the North Central Athletic Conference) will jump out of the frying pan and into the fire as they host University on Thursday.
“I not going to think about that one right now,” Malone said. “I’m going to go home and savor this one for a little bit before thinking about University.”
The Polar Bears (8-5, 4-3 in the NCAC) will play host to Elkins on Thursday.
“We have to put this one behind us and get ready for Elkins now,” Reed said.
WFHS TV NEWS thanks the Times West Virginian for the collaborative partnership since 1999.
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