Lady Bucs stay unbeaten with win over Wave
Story by Zach Womble
GALLATIN – The Beech Lady Bucs had little trouble on Friday night in Gallatin as they handed the Lady Wave a crushing 74-46 dominating defeat.
The win improves the Lady Bucs to 7-3 overall and 3-0 in league play and feeling confident as they head into their annual Beech Christmas Tournament.
“I think now we are a little bit older and we are starting to understand the game a little bit better and really starting to understand some of our sets,” Beech coach Kristi Utley said.
Leading 43-20 at the break, Beech started out the third quarter with three straight layups on fast-break opportunities, prompting a Gallatin timeout just 65 seconds into the quarter.
“Our emphasis is to win every quarter,” Utley said. “We’ve had some games this year that we’ve won games, but we didn’t win every quarter, so we’ve been emphasizing that coming out after halftime and to start the fourth quarter.”
Leading the team offensively was guard Shiya Hoosier. The junior finished with a game-high 25 points, scoring in the paint and out on the perimeter.
“I thought we played well tonight offensively, especially on our fast breaks,” Hoosier said. “I think we need to improve defensively. Even though we play good defensively it could always be better because our offense generates from our defense.”
Gallatin struggled to score in the first half, as only eight of its 20 points came in the half-court offense.
“I really thought we did a good job tonight of playing up the line defense,” Utley said. “We’ve put a lot of emphasis on playing up the line and only giving team’s one shot per possession.”
Jo’Neca Talley poured in 19 points for the Lady Wave, while teammate Makayla Wright added 13, but it was the lack of offense in spurts that really hurt Gallatin.
“They are a good team,” Gallatin coach Jerry Landers stated. “They have good length, they get up and down the floor well and are very aggressive. We broke the pressure a couple times and then got satisfied with throwing it over the top and we can’t do that.
“It’s part of a growth process and that is what we talked about in the locker room. We have to get back to doing what got us to where we are. I am proud of our fight in the second half.”
The loss drops Gallatin to 7-3 overall with both team’s playing in their respective Christmas Tournaments on Thursday, Dec. 20.
GIRLS BOX SCORE
Beech (74): Shiya Hoosier 25, Mia Dean 15, JC Swafford 9, Kennedy Powell 7, Bri Ellis 5, Christa Dean 5, Natasia Jones 3, Kendra Mueller 2, Emily McDowell 2, Ryleigh Piotto 1
Gallatin (46): Jo’Neca Talley 19, Makayla Wright 13, Jeremia Montgomery 5, Kayla Carman 4, Autumn Pincock 1
