Lady Hornets can't get shots to fall in loss to Belpre

CHILLICOTHE — Despite a third quarter rally to take the lead, a cold shooting streak in the fourth proved to be too much to overcome for the Coal Grove Lady Hornets, as they fell to the Belpre Lady Golden Eagles 38-32 in the Division 6 district semifinals on Tuesday at Southeastern High School.

Coal Grove finishes the season with a record of 17-6. Belpre improved their record to 8-16 and moved onto the district finals on Saturday where they will face the Waterford Lady Wildcats, who survived an upset bid by Ripley Union in the second game of the night.

"They started playing us a little differently in the second half and we tried to do something different to counter that, but it just didn't work and we got stuck a few times," said Coal Grove coach Nick Miller. "It just comes down to the kids that need to score and you set up plays for them, then you hope one or two fall in. But it just didn't seem to go our way tonight."

The Lady Hornets were led in scoring by Jenna Anson and Rebekah Dome with 11 points each. Anson pulled down 7 rebounds and a blocked shot and Dome finished with a pair of boards.

Belpre was led by their one man wrecking crew of Gracie Bills. The junior forward finished with game-highs of 20 points and 20 rebounds to pace Beplre on both ends of the floor.

"Bills was hard to stop. We tried to put different kids on her and you try to help as much as you can. But yeah, she was tough. You can't replicate that in practice."

Trailing for much of the game, the Lady Hornets rallied back in the third.

Beplre took their largest lead of the game as Bills scored in the paint to make the score 25-18.

Dome would score from close range and Lively would hit a trey from the wing on an inbounds play to pull the Lady Hornets to within two with 4 minutes remaining in the game.

Coal Grove would get a stop on Belpre's following possession and answer with another score in the paint from Anson to tie the game up at 28-all.

Anson would give the Lady Hornets their first lead of the game since the first quarter with 42 seconds remaining in the third. Anson would draw a foul and sink a free throw to give Coal Grove the lead.

However, Bills would close the quarter out with a mid range jumper from straight away to give Belpre a 30-29 lead going into the final frame,

Coal Grove would score first to begin the fourth, with Anson scoring to put her team back in front at 31-30 with 6:31 showing on the clock.

Anson's score would be the last field goal from Coal Grove the rest of the game, as the Lady Hornets would suffer through a scoring drought for the next 4:26 of the quarter.

Bills would give Belpre the lead for good on a jump shot at the 5:11 mark of the quarter to put her team ahead 32-31 and reach the 1,000 point mark of her career.

Kitts would finally break the scoring drought with 20 seconds remaining with a free throw to make the score 35-32.

Forced to foul, the Lady Eagles would sink 3 free throws to seal the win.

While Coal Grove will return nearly his entire roster next season, Miller said that his lone senior, Shay Collins will be missed.

"Shay is a great kid. She understood her role. She was a defender and did everything we asked of her," said Miller.

Belpre 13 10 7 8 = 38

Coal Grove 10 8 11 3 = 32

BELPRE (8-16): Julie Way 0 0 4-4 4, Madison Lauer 0 1 1-2 4, Adelaide Stewart 1 0 0-0 2, Cheylynn Parsons 0 0 1-4 1, Megan Carmichael 1 0 0-0 2, Khloe Cooper 2 0 0-0 4, Gracie Bills 9 0 2-4 20, Savannah Cross 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 2 8-12 38. Rebounds: 32 (Bills 20, Parsons 3). Assists: 2. Steals: 4 (Cooper 2). Blocks: 3 (Stwart, Parsons, Carmichael). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.

COAL GROVE (17-6): Palin Hunter 0 0 0-0 0, Haili McKnight 0 0 0-0 0, Kendall Taylor 1 0 0-0 2, Karli Shore 1 0 0-0 2, Emma Lively 0 1 0-2 3, Izzy Kitts 1 0 1-2 3, Jenna Anson 5 0 1-2 11, Rebekah Dome 4 0 3-4 11. Totals: 12 1 5-10 32. Rebounds: 25 (Lively 8, Anson 7, Kitts 4). Assists: 3. Steals: 4 (Taylor 2). Blocks: 3 (Shore 2, Anson). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.