Keoinna Ray (30) is stripped in the lane. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
BLYTHEWOOD (Dec. 7, 2016) – With about four minutes left to play against Midland Valley, Blythewood girls head coach Steve Inabinet told the Lady Bengals that there was nothing to lose.
Well . . . Blythewood was indeed losing, down 49-27 to the Lady Vikings. But whatever energy could be taken from a time-out with 4:45 to go in the game, the girls used it.
“We just gave them a little more freedom,” Inabinet said. “They tried hard to run the system like they were supposed to do, but sometimes they will do what I call overthinking, overreacting. So we told them to just play basketball, just play basketball.”
So they did, and for a few minutes all of those underthrown passes and all of those under-muscled layups from earlier quarters seemed a distant memory.
The Lady Bengals staged a 15-2 run over the next three minutes, getting scores from Cameron Bostick and Alexis Mims along the way.
So while the Lady Bengals wound up with a 53-42 loss Tuesday night, Inabinet thinks he saw the girls begin to mature on the court.
“We’re still trying to find our chemistry and we think that those five that finished (among them Bostick and Mims) are going to start the next game, we’ve already decided that,” Inabinet said. “Hopefully, the ones that did start will fight to get their jobs back. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
Bostick led the way for the Lady Bengals (1-4) with 15 points. Mims had 10.
Midland Valley (1-1) used a lot of transition points from 14 steals to set up an 18-7 lead after the first quarter. The Vikings nearly matched the opening effort with a 15-4 second quarter to go up 33-11 at the half.
They held a 45-21 advantage going into the fourth quarter, where the Bengals awakened somewhat and sought to at least decrease their opponent’s lead a little.
“It was rough at the beginning,” Inabinet said. “We don’t have that kind of a team that can come back from a deficit like that. We can dig a hole that is so deep that it’s hard to come back from.”
Shania Evans, who had 12 points, and Jordan Morgan who had 10, led the way for the Vikings.
Midland Valley – 53
Blythewood – 42
MV: 18-15-12-8 – 53
BHS: 7-4-10-21 – 42
Midland Valley
Shania Evans 12, Jordan Morgan 10, Andrews 7, Edmond 6, Jefferson 6, Glymph 5, Padgett 4, Truesdale 2, Morgan 2, Flowers 1.
Blythewood
Cameron Bostick 15, Alexis Mims 10, Smith 4, Ray 4, M. Weeks 3, Kesh. Jackson 2, Keay. Jackson 2. L. Weeks 2.
