CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tug Valley girls basketball coach Seth Ooten wants his team to concern itself with what it’s capable of controlling.
With that approach often comes an extra focus on the defensive end.
In Tuesday’s Class A quarterfinal against No. 7 Greater Beckley Christian, the second-seeded Panthers held the Crusaders without a point in the first quarter and to one first-half field goal, setting the tone defensively to roll to a 60-13 victory at the Charleston Coliseum.
“You never know how you’re going to shoot, but defensively, we played a really good game and on the hustle plays, A-plus there,” Ooten said.
Tug Valley, a No. 2 seed, struggled mightily offensively itself throughout the first quarter while making 2-of-22 shots. The Panthers used their defensive dominance and six points off free throws to lead 10-0.
The advantage grew to 16-0 more than 6 minutes into the second quarter, before the Cruasders (16-8) produced their first points on a Destyni Farrish three-pointer.
Any momentum from the bucket was short-lived, however, as the Panthers (20-4) countered with six unanswered points and were in front by 21 at halftime after Katie Hall wrapped up the first-half scoring with consecutive baskets.
“We definitely started off not at the best pace, but we controlled what we could and then controlled the rest of the stuff that comes with that,” Hall said.
The Panthers went to halftime leading 24-3 despite shooting 8 for 37 to that point.
“If you’d have told me they’d score 24 points in the first half, I’d take that,” GBC head coach Lane Acord said. “They’re a good team. It’s different shooting here. My girls played with heart and got after it. We just couldn’t make a shot.”
The Panthers increased their offensive efficiency in a major way throughout a third quarter in which they made 12-of-26 shots, getting multiple field goals from all five starters over that 8-minute stretch to up the advantage to 51-13 through three.
“You get on the floor and this stage with the lights, it’s very hard to shoot. A lot of times, the team that settles in first, wins,” Ooten said. “The stuff that we can control — defense, rebounding and the small things — we pride ourselves on that and it keeps us in the game when we are struggling to score. When we shot better like we did in the second half, we’re a very scary team.”
The offensive balance was evidenced by the final stats, with Haven Destin’s’ 13 points a game high. Bailee Hall, Katie Hall and Kylie DeBoard followed with 10 points each, while Gracie Hynd scored eight in the triumph.
Bailee Hall grabbed 12 rebounds on both ends to lead all players with 24 boards, while Katie Hall snatched 15 rebounds. That duo combined for 39 of their team’s 71 rebounds — one more than GBC totaled as a team.
“They’re fearless,” Ooten said, “and some of those rebounds they get, they shouldn’t be grabbing them.”
Tug Valley totaled 71 rebounds to GBC’s 38.
GBC finished 4 for 47 in its first showing at the state tournament in 15 years.
The Panthers will face No. 3 St. Marys in a state quarterfinal.
“We couldn’t score. In the early part of the game, our defense was where we wanted it to be,” Acord said. “We wanted to keep the game in the 30s or 40s, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole.”