×

Belpre can’t get going in a defeat

Golden Eagles finish at 13-11

Photo by Steve Hemmelgarn Belpre’s Curstin Giffin drives past Miller’s Lacey Alexander (14) during the Falcons’ 59-19 victory over the Golden Eagles in a Ohio Division IV sectional final.

POMEROY, Ohio — Belpre never really got going here Saturday afternoon in falling hard to Miller by 40 points, 59-19, in a girls basketball Division IV sectional final at Meigs High School.

The lopsided loss that ended the Golden Eagles’ season at 13-11 was in Miller’s favor right off the opening tip and the Falcons never let up in squashing their TVC foe.

Miller, now 14-9, jumped on Belpre so early that it was 7-0 in the opening 2:04 before Curstin Giffin sank two free throws and Kyanna Ray added a trey at 4:32 for the Golden Eagles to cut the deficit to two at 7-5. But that was the extent of Belpre being competitive with the Falcons all game long.

Back-to-back rebound buckets by Miller followed by a pair of foul shots and then another basket to close an 8-0 spurt upped the Falcons’ lead to 10 at 15-5 after only one quarter. And things for Belpre never got any better at all, just worse.

The second stanza saw Miller run out to a 21-point advantage by halftime. Belpre got as close as 19-7, 21-10 and 24-11 before the Falcons took off again with an 11-0 offensive burst to propel ahead 35-11. A Giffin 3-ball at the buzzer made it 35-14.

In the second half, Belpre managed to tally a whopping five points, two in the third period on an Emma Hodgson goal and three in the fourth quarter on a Giffin 3-point play, while Miller scored a total of 24. In fact, both Golden Eagles scores came on the final plays of each quarter.

Belpre’s high scorer Saturday was Giffin with eight points, while Ray had five, Abbey LaFatch three, Hodgson two and Hannah Deems one.

For Miller, which lost both previous games versus Belpre this season by just four points and in double overtime, Hallie Joseph was the Falcons’ top point-producer with 15, followed by Sophia Compston’s 13, Lacey Alexander’s 10, Chloe Rine’s eight and Ashley Spencer’s seven.

“I think Miller played extremely well,” said Belpre head coach Chris Murray. “They had a great game plan and just followed it out.

“We didn’t shoot very well. When you’re playing against a zone, you’ve got to make some shots from outside in order to get them out of it, and we just didn’t do a good job at that.

“It was just one of those days where it wasn’t in our favor. But we just kind of lacked some things on the defensive side and the offensive side. Miller, though, put it to us for four quarters.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today