BEAVERCREEK — Whether ateam has a whole bunch of sharpshooters who can hit shots from anywhere on the court, or if a team is made up of a bunch of eager yet inexperienced players who want to hit those same shots, there’s one important key in basketball for any team: The ball has to go through the basket.
Veteran Fairmont hit a bunch more of their shots than Beavercreek, Dec. 22 in a 58-32 Firebirds win in Beavercreek High School’s Ed Zink Fieldhouse.
Youthful Beavercreek had all kinds of looks at the basket, and they put up all kinds of shots at that same basket.
They just wouldn’t go in.
“Today, we just didn’t shoot it well,” Beavercreek coach Ed Zink explained. “When you don’t shoot it well, I don’t care what you can do. If you can’t score, everything looks … bad.
“At the start of the second quarter (with Beavercreek trailing, 14-5), I think we get five or six stops in a row. We did a great job defensively … but can’t score. I mean, we’d turn it over or miss shots. Eventually, they’re going to score again. And that’s what happened.”
Down 33-15 at halftime, Beavercreek (4-5 overall, 3-3 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s National East) made those stops early on in the third quarter, too. The Beavers held Fairmont scoreless for the first two minutes of the second half. But at the same time, the Beavers held themselves scoreless as well. The two teams traded buckets to make the score 35-17, Firebirds, then Fairmont went on a 15-0 scoring run to put themselves out in front by 33 points, 50-17.
Beavercreek never threatened again.
Fairmont’s Madeline Westbeld led everybody in scoring with 24 points. Madison Bartley was the other Firebird in double figures. She finished with 16. The Firebirds have a few days off, then they’ll host Tippecanoe for a 2:30 p.m. game Saturday Dec. 29 at Trent Arena.
Westbeld entered Saturday’s Greater Western Ohio Conference, National East divisional battle as the conference’s fifth leading scorer. Her 24-point output was her best of the season, since a 34-point season opening outburst against Solon back in November.
Tiernan McKitrick scored a season-best seven points for Beavercreek. She and Alyssa Hargrove-Hall tied for team-high honors, both with seven. Hall leads the Beavers in scoring thus far this season with an 11-point scoring average.
“We just have to keep playing hard, and to find someone to lead this team,” Zink said. “We gotta play them again, so we just have to keep working at it, and finding ways to get better and better.”
Beavercreek plays next at 7:30 p.m. Thursday Dec. 27 for a nonleague contest at Wilmington.
