Horace Blankenship

The Berkeley Springs girls basketball team has had trouble playing consistently well for the entire 32 minutes in games this year, according to their coach Dale McCumbee. And, Petersburg took advantage of the Indian flaw on their way to a 63-45 win on Saturday, January 13, in Petersburg.

"We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot," McCumbee said. "We play well in stretches, but then we have other stretches that are just the opposite. We were down by one point on Saturday with 1:18 left in the opening half. Alex Tamez came up with a big steal and we had a chance to take the lead. We

Tone Belt, a 2005 graduate of Berkeley Springs High School, has gotten off to a fast start in Indoor Track at the University of Louisville. The silver medalist from the Junior World Championships in 2006 has won both the long jump and high jump competitions in each of first indoor meets of the season.

Belt opened the indoor season at the Fast Start Invitational, held at Southern Illinois University on December 6, 2006. The two-time All-American didn't disappoint, winning the long jump with a new University of Louisville indoor record of 25 feet 7.5 inches, bettering the old mark set last year by teammate Andre Black of 24 feet 11 inches.

Despite what Berkeley Springs coach Chad Brinegar characterized as one of his team's best games of the year, Hampshire County had little trouble disposing of the Indians, 65-36 in boys basketball on Friday, January 12, in Romney.

"Even though we lost, I was pleased with our play tonight," Brinegar said. "Hampshire has a good team and I thought we did some things very well. I know it sounds crazy when you lose by the margin we did, but I saw a lot of things I liked."

The Berkeley Springs girls basketball team had a hard time handling a second-half Hedgesville press and matching up defensively with the taller Lady Eagles, losing 66-47 to their Class AAA opponent on Wednesday, January 3, in Berkeley Springs.

Another problem, slow starts, that have plagued Berkeley Springs for much of the year, was also costly. Before all of the crowd had found a seat, Berkeley Springs was already facing a 15-2 deficit.

The Wolves wrestling team traveled to Fairmont on Saturday, January 6, for the 12-team East Fairmont "Quest for the Nest" Tournament. The meet featured the four top-ranked middle school/junior high school teams in the state, according to wvmat.com. Edison Junior High and Point Pleasant Middle School were tied for the top spot in the polls, with Blennerhassett Junior High School ranked third, followed closely by Warm Springs Middle School.

Coaches Poll

The Berkeley Springs High School Wrestling team placed second in the seven-team Tri-State Invitational at Cameron on Saturday, January 6. Led by first place finishes from Derek Hovermale, Tyson Bennett and Cody Reed, the Indians amassed 139 points, 16 points fewer than team champion Grafton.

Josh Connor also placed first at 119, wrestling for the Berkeley Springs B-team. Therefore his points did not count in the team standings.

The Berkeley Springs boys basketball team connected on 12 long-range shots, on their way to a 62-31 win over Paw Paw on Friday, January 5, in Paw Paw.

The game was never in doubt after the opening eight minutes of play, as the Indians raced out to a 20-6 lead and never looked back on their way to the easy win.

Diedra Burch scored 21 points to help lift the Warm Springs girls basketball team past North Middle School 29 to 27 on Thursday, January 4 at the Warm Springs Middle School gymnasium.

Burch provided the bulk of Warm Springs offense, but it was the defensive effort, especially that of Chelsea Hessler that drew praise from Warm Springs coach Jeff Derby.

Berkeley Springs sophomore Amber Booher recorded a double-double in each game of the two-day Hancock Holiday "Shoot the Lights Out" Classic, leading the Indians to the team title in the four-team event. Booher scored 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds on Friday, December 29, against Southern Fulton and then poured in 20 points and grabbed 10 more rebounds in the championship game against Hancock the following night.

"Amber had a great tournament," said Berkeley Springs coach Dale McCumbee. "She had a good touch inside and used the glass well. Of course her teammates did a good job of feeding her the ball. We were very unselfish and passed the ball well. I really liked our ball rotation. Kids were passing up marginal shots for better ones."

Things got hot at the Berkeley Springs High School gymnasium on Wednesday, December 20. But it had nothing to do with the heating system, it was the result of the smothering defense played by Berkeley Springs in their 60-37 win over visiting East Hardy.

It was particularly hot during the first eight minutes of the game, with the Tribe holding the Cougars to just four first-quarter points. While the East Hardy defense struggled, Berkeley Springs got five points from Sammy Trump, three from L.J. Wright and two each from Foster Sirbaugh and Jeremy Michael for a 12-4 lead.