CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — St. Marys girls basketball coach Fred King wasn’t thrilled with his team’s effort over the first half of the first quarter in Friday’s matchup with Moorefield at Robert C. Byrd High School as part of the Civil & Environmental Consultants Classic.
Otherwise, King didn’t find much he didn’t like.
The Blue Devils used a dominant second quarter to overcome some early struggles and enter halftime with a decisive 22-point advantage, and they hardly letup in what amounted to a 72-41 victory.
“What hurt us early was Anna Bennett picked up two really quick fouls, and then she picked up a third one. But after that, she didn’t pick up any more. When she’s on the floor, we’re solid,” King said noting the importance of the junior guard who finished with 13 points.
The Yellow Jackets (0-2) led 6-2 early but never again after a Laney Watkins three-pointer put the Blue Devils (3-0) up one point shortly after. SMHS settled for a 15-11 advantage through one quarter, before taking complete control in the second.
Landrey Riggs, who matched Bennett’s point total with 13, scored the first five of the second quarter on a three-pointer and transition layup. Moorefield responded with five straight points, before Blue Devils’ junior Brynnley Bulluck took over the matchup, starting with a triple that allowed her team to lead 23-16.
Bulluck scored eight more points in the remainder of the half, connecting on two treys as well as a layup for the final scoring play of the half as the Blue Devils went to the intermission with a 41-19 lead. Bulluck, with 20 first-half points, had outscored Moorefield herself.
“The key was Bulluck and Bennett both stepped up when we needed them to and Laney Watkins stepped up,” King said. “They said we have to take this game and they did.”
Moorefield’s Kerigan Bergdall scored the first five points of the second half and her team’s first seven, but after the Yellow Jackets got to within 17, the Blue Devils countered with the next 10 points to continue expanding their advantage.
“We had to pick up our defensive intensity and that’s what turned the tide. We did a lot of denials and then they’d pick up their dribble and our girls would deflect the ball and go shoot a layup,” King said. “That’s important to us. We started out very poorly, but as we got going and got up and down the floor and our girls got to breathing a little bit, good things started happening for us.”
Bulluck finished with a game-high 31 points and made five of her team’s seven triples.
Watkins scored 10 to make it four in double figures in the win.
“I saw good defense turn into easy baskets and that’s how you get going,” King said.
Bergdall led Moorefield with 18 points and was the lone double-figure scorer for a team that finished with 26 turnovers.