CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Robert C. Byrd’s girls basketball team had a decisive height advantage Friday in their matchup with Lincoln.
The Eagles took full advantage of that and then some by working to take high percentage shots, and they converted 53 percent of their field goals and never trailed in a 57-34 victory against the Cougars.
RCB (10-4) starts four players 5-foot-9 or taller, while Lincoln’s tallest starter stands 5-8.
“We want them to understand you have to be able to not always look for that early shot,” Eagles’ head coach Robert Shields said. “Let’s work it to where we can get the higher percentage shots. I showed them their cumulative shot charts recently to say this is where you’re at, these are your sweet spots and let’s try to build from this. That’s been a big thing the last two games. We’re also really letting our defense dictate what our offense is doing and we’ve really worked on that.”
Working against the Cougars’ 2-3 zone early in the game, Avery Childers scored the first six points for the Eagles, who got a 3-pointer moments later from Martina Howe to lead 9-3.
“Early on, we were in the right spots when they were running the zone,” Shields said, “and got them at a disadvantage having to switch [to man-to-man defense] a little bit.”
The Cougars (7-9) were held to 1-of-8 shooting in the opening frame, with a triple from Ashlyn Riley providing the visitors with their only field goal.
RCB got five consecutive points from Carleigh Curotz early in the second quarter, including a conventional three-point play for a 20-7 advantage 6:08 before halftime.
Lincoln battled back to trail 22-12 following two free throws from Riley, but Childers and Olivia Lowther scored from close range late in the half to sent the Eagles to the break with a 26-13 lead.
“I’ll give Byrd credit — their defense was really good and they hustled and were all over the place,” LHS head coach Rob Hawkins said. “They forced us to shoot it quicker than we were ready to and we had the same thing against NM the other night. We shot a low percentage but we’re having to shoot the ball quicker than we want to, because you’re talking about good teams that are playing hard and that’s why you want to play those kind of teams. Some of them, it’s the first time they’ve had to go through this. You just hope that they grow up and we get used to it.”
Riley accounted for both of her team’s first-half field goals and all but four points as the Eagles worked to consistently challenge the Cougars’ shots.
Lincoln picked up its offensive production in the third quarter and pulled to within 30-19 on a Brooklyn Davisson conventional three-point play at the 5:09 mark.
However, the Eagles immediately answered in the form of Howe’s driving layup and a Jaden Sturm triple, allowing them to up their advantage to 16.
The teams traded buckets over the remainder of the third, before Lowther’s jumper enabled RCB to take a 43-25 lead into the fourth.
“We shared the ball really well for the most part,” Shields said. “We were inside and out and had a little bit of secondary fast breaks that were good at times.
The Cougars got no closer than 16 in the final period.
Childers led the Eagles’ charge with 16 points and seven rebounds. She made 6-of-11 shots. Curotz added 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with six boards. Howe also scored 11 points and Sturm added eight, while Lowther scored seven.
RCB made 23-of-43 shots and held a 17-6 second-half rebounding advantage to control the boards for the contest, 33-19. That helped the Eagles overcome their 16 turnovers to Lincoln’s nine.
Riley had five of her team’s nine field goals and scored 19 points. She added a team-best six boards in defeat.
“The girls perception is we lost bad so we turned it over a bunch, because that’s usually our Achilles’ heel, but we didn’t,” Hawkins said. “We just didn’t shoot the ball well enough.”