Lady Indians looking for consistency

Berkeley Springs High School Girls Basketball Team beat St. James, 62-33, on January 24 in Berkeley Springs, but lost a pair of games on the road to Martinsburg and Keyser. The Lady Bulldogs beat the Tribe 48-38 on Monday, January 23 in Martinsburg, while Keyser bettered the visiting Indians, 63-49, on Friday, January 27.

The week started in Martinsburg with the Lady Indians falling by 10 points to their Berkeley County rival.

Berkeley Springs got five points from Deidra Burch, four from Casandra Burch and two each from Lauren Schetrompf and Casey Solomon in the opening quarter, but still trailed Martinsburg 17-13 after the opening eight minutes.

The Indians slowed things down in the second quarter, but Martinsburg still extended their lead to 29-21 at the half.

"In the second quarter we slowed it down out of necessity due to Martinsburg's athleticism and depth," said Indian Coach Dale McCumbee. At the half, Coach Derby put in a new set and we remained patient and it really paid off as we got right back into the game and only trailed Martinsburg by two points heading into the fourth quarter."

The new sets and deliberate offense paid off, as the Tribe outscored the Bulldogs 11-5 in the third stanza and trailed by a single bucket, 34-32, heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.

"We missed a couple of shots in the fourth and fell further behind," said McCumbee. “That forced us to play a little differently and they ended up with the 10 point win."

Deidra Burch led Berkeley with 21 points, Solomon added nine, Casandra Burch four, while Schetrompf and Sydne Yanez rounded out the scoring with two points each.

Jasmyn Hosby paced Martinsburg with 22 points.

The following evening Berkeley Springs hosted St. James and got balanced scoring to easily defeat their Maryland foe, 62-33.

Deidra Burch scored 18 points, Schetrompf 15 and Yanez 12 to lead the Indian offense. Solomon added seven points, Casandra Burch six, Brittaney Napfel two and Charla McDaniel two.

Jordan Wills led St. James with a game-high 19 points.

The Indians, who led only 27-17 at the half, outscored St. James 18-7 in the third quarter and 17-9 in the fourth for the final margin of victory.
Although McCumbee was pleased to bounce back with the win, he was not happy with his teams first-half performance.

"In the first half we just sort of went through the motions," said a frustrated McCumbee. “We picked up the pressure and played with much more effort and intensity in the second half. We have struggled this year with consistent effort and it is a carry over from our practices. I know I sound like a broken record, but we need to practice with more purpose which will result in more consistency. It is really going to determine how far this team goes.”

Berkeley Springs finished the week at Keyser, losing to their sectional rival, 63-49.

The Golden Tornado led 12-11 after the opening quarter and then outscored the Indians 15-7 in the second to take a 27-18 lead into the halftime intermission.

Despite being outscored by eight points in the second quarter, McCumbee pointed to the third quarter as the difference.

"It was breakdowns in the third quarter that really hurt us," said McCumbee. “There was a span where they got a few easy buckets and we forced some things. We didn't capitalize on our opportunities and fell further behind."

Keyser outscored the Indians by six points during the quarter and led 47-32 with eight minutes remaining. Berkeley Springs outscored Keyser 17-16 in the final stanza, but never threatened their Mineral County opponent.

Yanez scored a career-high 16 points to pace Berkeley Springs. Deidra Burch added 11 points, Schetrompf and Solomon eight each, Caitlyn Napfel four and Casandra Burch two.

Sam Horvan and Markisha Coleman scored 16 and 13 points, respectively, to lead the Golden Tornado.

"We need to have a few weeks of good practices going forward," McCumbee said. “We had a couple of bad practices last week and we can't let that happen as we head down the home stretch."

Berkeley Springs, 8-9, plays at East Hardy tonight, February 1, before hosting Moorefield on Friday, February 3.