Lady Indians drop pair to sectional rivals

Berkeley Springs was eager to make a statement the week before Christmas. After all, they were playing games against the two teams in their section, Keyser and Frankfort. Wins would have given the Tribe much confidence and put doubt in the minds of their sectional rivals. However, slow starts in each contest doomed the Indians as they lost to Keyser and Frankfort by respective scores of 65-47 and 53-46.

"It is disappointing," said Berkeley Springs coach Dale McCumbee. "We had our opportunities in each game but just couldn't come up with a win. I guess if there is anything encouraging in the losses it is the fact that we were right there in both games, despite not playing up to our potential."

McCumbee's point is illustrated by the poor field goal and free throw shooting against Frankfort and a fourth-quarter meltdown against Keyser. Berkeley Springs made only 10 of 54 shots from the field against the Falcons (19%), and 11-24 free throws (46%), while Keyser outscored 19-5 in the final quarter of the Keyser game.

Keyser jumped out to a 20-9 lead on Tuesday, December 19. But, after falling behind by 11 points after the first eight minutes of play, the Indians clawed their way back into the game. Outscoring their Mineral County opponent 17-11 in the second quarter, the Tribe only trailed 31-25 at the half.

Another 17 point effort in the third quarter brought Berkeley Springs to within four point of Keyser, 46-42. However, the Golden Tornado swept the Indians out of the gym in the final stanza for the 17-point win.

"The way we played in the first and fourth quarters was disappointing," McCumbee said. "I'm proud of the girls, the way they battled back after a slow start, but we have to play consistent basketball for four quarters."

Rebecca Trump led the Indians with 20 points, Alex Tamez added eight, Amber Booher and Courtney Kesecker six each, Kayla Hill three, while Kelsey McCoy and Sarah Risinger scored two points apiece.

Juliana Gustafson led the Golden Tornado with 20 points.

Two days later, Berkeley Springs only scored five first-quarter points, as they lost 53-46 to Frankfort in Ridgely.

"I'm not sure why we've been having trouble scoring at the start of games," McCumbee said. "But, it is a factor and certainly played a role in our last two losses."

Luckily for the Indians, Frankfort wasn't exactly burning the nets in the first quarter either, scoring only nine points for a four-point lead. Frankfort outscored Berkeley Springs 17-11 in the second quarter to take a 10-point lead, 26-16, into the half-time intermission.

The Indians came out of the locker room and shaved the Frankfort lead to nine points, 39-30, due in part to Trump, who scored eight of Berkeley Springs' 14 third-quarter points.

Berkeley Springs also outscored Frankfort in the fourth quarter, 16-14, but the slow first-half start proved to be more than the Tribe could overcome.

Trump led the Indians with 16 points, Booher scored eight, Tamez seven, Jessica Haynes six, Kesecker and Hill three each, Risinger two and McCoy one, to round out the Berkeley Springs offense.

"We did a much better job of protecting the ball in the second half," McCumbee said. "We made way to many first-half turnovers, we shot the ball poorly from the field and we didn't take advantage of our opportunities from the free throw line. We did do a decent job defensively, forcing 24 turnovers."

Frankfort was led by Lindsay Adams, who scored 17 points.

With the two losses, Berkeley Springs fell to 3-4 on the year.

The Indian junior varsity team also lost two games, falling to Keyser 37-29 and to Frankfort 41-32.

Megan Risinger led Berkeley Springs against Keyser with 13 points, while Jessica Haynes scored 14 against Frankfort.