Cove rally comes up short versus Belton
Fri, 2015-12-18 05:00
News Staff
By TJ MAXWELL
A lopsided third quarter allowed the Belton Lady Tigers to open up a 16-point lead on the Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs heading into the final eight minutes of their District 12-6A contest Tuesday in Cove.
A furious rally by Cove, led by senior Twillesa Shipman’s nine points in the fourth quarter, came up just short as Belton’s Blair Gilbert and Cammie Moore closed out the game with a pair of successful trips to the free throw line to hold Cove off 50-44.
“We decided to come out the last few minutes of the fourth quarter and try to play but you can’t do that against a good team like that,” said Cove head coach Eldridge McAdams. “They made some big threes down that stretch and we didn’t counterpunch. It’s like a boxing match. If they punch you, you’ve got to counterpunch. I think they punched us and we didn’t counterpunch. We had 16 turnovers again and we were 4 for 12 from the free throw line. You can’t do that and shoot 30 percent from the field. You’re not going to be able to win against anybody.”
Cove took an early 11-8 lead behind their post play of junior Chyanne Chapman, Daisha Hunter and Twillesa Shipman. All three were able to put back second chance opportunities and senior Keturah Taylor buried a three to push the pace.
Three pointers by junior Cammie Moore and Elisa Priddy led the Lady Tigers back to knot the game at 21-all after 16 minutes of action. Moore scored 10 of her gamehigh 20 points in the period.
The Lady Dawgs shot just two of 12 from the field in the third period and came up empty on their only trip to the charity stripe as Belton outscored Cove 18-4 in the period.
A three-pointer by Emily del Real started the run while a put back and another three each from del Real and Moore opened the Lady Tigers’ lead to nine. After a basket by Cove’s Chapman temporarily stopped the bleeding, the Lady Tigers ended the frame on a 7-0 run for the 39-25 lead.
A bucket by Gilbert gave Belton their largest lead of the night at 41-25 to start the period but a three-pointer by Cove’s Taylor kick started a 19-5 run that pulled Cove within one possession, 46-44, with 32 seconds remaining.
“We battled, but we have to battle all the time. You can’t turn it on and turn it off. We built an eight-point lead in the first half then come back with three or four turnovers in a row. When Belton gets going on offense and they’re making shots, they’re going to feed off of that and that’s how that lead dwindled down because of the things we were doing. Of the 16 turnovers, we had 10 in the first half. It’s frustrating but, at the same time, we’ve got to just keep working.
A pair of buckets in the paint by Chapman and Hunter cut the lead to single-digits and a free throw by Shipman and another three by Taylor pulled Cove within two possessions, 43-36 with 2:08 left.
A three-pointer by Shipman cut the lead to four with 54 seconds left and another bucket by her pulled the Lady Dawgs within one score.
The 16th turnover of the game by Cove gave Belton the ball back and after Cove was forced to foul, Moore closed out the game at the stripe.
Despite the Lady Dawgs outrebounding the Lady Tigers 37-19, including 20-10 on the offensive glass, the Lady Tigers were able to take advantage of second chance opportunities to open up the 16-point lead.
“In order for us to be a good team, we’ve got to rebound as a whole,” said McAdams. “That’s one thing we started the season doing and it seems like we’re going backwards. Rebounding is key. If we only get one shot, that’s not going to help us. We’ve got to put up more shots. The way we do that is get rebounds and put backs.”
Chapman and Hunter accounted for 23 of the team’s 37 rebounds Hunter led with 13 (five offensive) and Chapman had 10 (six offensive).
Shipman led the Lady Dawgs’ scoring with 12, followed by Taylor with 11 and Chapman with eight.
Moore led all scorers with 20 points for Belton, including 10 points in the second quarter.
“She was on target in the first half but I felt in the second half she was rushing it a little bit more,” said Belton head coach Brenda Gomez. “She really is our go to person but if anybody stops her, we have Emily, Blair, Kaitlyn and Hannah. It’s nice to have other kids who can show up when they aren’t doing well.”
Gilbert added 12 points to the Lady Tigers and del Real chipped in eight.
The Lady Tigers improve to 12-5 overall, 1-1 in District 12-6A and the Lady Dawgs fall to 13-6, 0-2.
McAdams hopes to see a resilient team when they return to the hardwood tonight on the road at Ellison.
“I always tell the girls, ‘it’s not how we lose but what we do after a loss,’” said McAdams. The season is not over. If you keep this game in your mind, it will definitely affect the next one. We just have to keep doing what we do and move on.
“It’s going to be hard fought every night. Every team and every night we step on the court, it’s going to be that kind of game.”