Lady Blazers demolish Coyotes

NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM, Feb. 7—

The girls' varsity basketball team (14-3) destroyed the Clarksburg Coyotes (8-10) on Tuesday night by a score of 61-26. The Lady Blazers were on fire the entire night—applying offensive intensity and superb defense—giving up just nine points to the Coyotes in the first quarter.

The girls started off strong, with senior Morgan Chase scoring a minute into the game. This forward momentum continued throughout the first quarter, during which the Blazers pulled ahead of the Coyotes by a score of 9-0. Clarksburg committed a number of fouls, particularly on senior co-captain Johanna Lopez. Lopez made nearly all of her free throws, giving the Blazers a huge advantage over the Coyotes. "We've been working on [free throws] in practice a lot, but you can't be great without your teammates," Lopez said. The Blazers finished the first quarter up 20-5.

The Lady Blazers kept up their defense throughout the second quarter, only allowing four points to the Coyotes. The Lady Blazers' defense was particularly strong throughout the quarter, forcing multiple turnovers and grabbing rebounds. Thing were clicking offensively, as well, as Blair managed to score a total of 16 points in the period, finishing the second quarter with a total score of 36-9.

Blair's defense slowed up a bit in the second half. Although they maintained their lead, finishing the quarter 51-19, the Blazers allowed the Coyotes to score ten points, more than they had in the entire first half. However, Blair managed to increase their scoring with senior Myla Sapp consistently breaking away from the pack and scoring.

Though the Lady Blazers played well as a team overall, sophomore Shannon Healy believes that they let up their defensive intensity in the second half and allowed Clarksburg to score more points than they should have. "We let up on defense and let them get more points in the second half," Healy said.

In the final quarter, the Blazer defense returned to its former intensity, and the Coyotes were only able to score five points. Nearly all of Blair's players saw playing time in the fourth, including senior Rose Kalala and junior Naimani Staley, who scored multiple three-pointers in the final four minutes.

Head coach Erin Conley believes that today's win will be a good morale booster heading into two tough matchups. "Kennedy and Northwest are going to be tough games, and we've been preparing. But today's win is definitely going to help us get through the week and get those wins.”

Editors Note: Myla Sapp is an online sports editor for Silver Chips Online.

The girls' varsity basketball team will play its next home game on Friday, Feb. 10 against Northwest at 7:00 p.m.

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