Indians third in Tri-State Shootout

Berkeley Springs traveled to Shinnston last week for the Lincoln McDonalds Holiday Basketball Tournament and came home with the runner-up trophy after losing to Lincoln, 57-42, in the championship game.

The Tribe opened the tournament with a 52-39 victory over Philip Barbour. The Indians grabbed a 20-12 lead after the opening quarter of action and then stretched the lead to 35-24 at the half. Both offenses struggled in the third quarter with Berkeley Springs outscoring the Colts 4-3, for a 39-27 lead, and then coasted to the 13 point win.

"It was good to see a team in our region," said Berkeley Springs coach Dale McCumbee. “We might see them again in the postseason, so it was an important game. Caitlyn Napfel and Sydne Yanez played well and gained some confidence. We will need some of our younger players to step up down the stretch, so this was a very good sign."

Napfel had 14 points, while Yanez scored seven points and was a force on the boards, according to McCumbee.

Deidra Burch, who McCumbee credited with getting the ball inside to Napfel, had 14 points, Casey Solomon added 11, Brittaney Napfel four and Lauren Schetrompf two.

Ashtin Haddix paced Philip Barbour with 15 points.

In the championship game, Lincoln held at 26-17 lead after the opening half and then extended the lead to 41-27 after three quarters of play.

The Lady Indians fought back and cut Lincoln's lead to seven points, 49-42, with under two minutes to play before Burch, who had a game-high 27 points, fouled out of the game.

With Burch on the bench, Lincoln scored the last eight points of the game for the final margin of victory.

"Lincoln is one of the best teams in the state and a regional opponent,” McCumbee said. “So, it was a great opportunity for us to see what challenge lies ahead. At times I thought we played well, but we have to be able to play more consistently for the entire 32 minutes. There are a lot of little things we still must improve on. Our kids are going to have to really work hard in practice so they can go for four quarters. We aren't real deep, so we have to be in tremendous shape."

Schetrompf added six points, Solomon five and Caitlyn Napfel four for the 4-4 Indians.

Halie Hanning had 15 points for 8-0 Lincoln.

Burch and Schetrompf were named to the all-tournament team.

Berkeley Springs hosted Keyser yesterday, January 3, will travel to Petersburg on January 7, before returning home on January 10 to take on Musselman.