Basketball fans at Belgreen High School saw mixed results after the BHS varsity girls’ and boys’ basketball teams faced Covenant Christian in area play Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs, off to a 9-2 start, put another whipping on a Class 2A Area 14 opponent, defeating Covenant Christian 52-19. The Belgreen boys, however, were unable to follow up with a similar result, losing to the Eagles 48-38 to drop to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in the area.
To start the night, the BHS girls’ team had no issues dispatching the Lady Eagles. The Lady Bulldogs began the game with an 8-0 run and their lead was never tested. Belgreen suffocated Covenant Christian defensively, allowing just 10 points in the first half and only nine in the second. Senior Dacota Green led the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points while Bryn Scott added 10 points in the victory.
“It’s always good to win area games,” Belgreen varsity girls’ basketball coach Chad Green said.
Green, who’s been disappointed with specific facets of his team’s play in the last few games, was happy to see improvement in those areas against Covenant Christian.
“I thought our ball movement was better, and I thought our rebounding was better, so maybe we’re getting things worked out,” he said.
Rebounding, in particular, was a point of emphasis for the Lady Bulldogs, who, even in wins, have struggled on the boards at times this year. Green was happy with the energy he saw with his Lady Bulldogs against the Lady Eagles Tuesday night.
“Every coach, I’m sure, does different rebounding things (in practice) and stuff like that, but honestly it’s just effort—effort and want-to,” Green said.
Belgreen has a couple of non-area games on the schedule ahead of its next area game against Tharptown on December 17. Up next the Lady Bulldogs will travel to Rogers. The game on Thursday, December 12, should be a good test for BHS, according to the head coach.
“Rogers will be a good challenge for us because, you know, they play good half court man-to-man defense, and we’re gonna have to work and move the basketball to get open and get good looks. Of course, we’ll have to run them off that three-point line because they love to shoot the three,” Green said. “When you shoot threes it results in long rebounds, so if we can rebound we can get out and run the floor.”
In the boys’ basketball game between Belgreen and Covenant Christian, both teams struggled at the basket and with turnovers. It was a fast-paced battle waged as both the Bulldogs and Eagles attempted to push it up and down the court, but in the end the visitors left victorious after denying the hosts’ comeback attempt in the final period of play.
“We like to play fast, but they do, too,” Belgreen head coach Will Bonner said postgame. “I think it was to our advantage to play fast, but it seemed like we slowed down a lot whenever we should have been speeding up.
“They ran the box and won—I kinda figured it was gonna happen at some point. This is our first look at it. We practiced it, I thought we would handle it a little better than we did, but we’ll have to continue to work on that,” he added.
Midway through the third period, the Bulldogs tied the game after trailing for the previous 20-odd minutes, but Belgreen couldn’t quite keep the Eagles down in the end. Bonner felt his team’s defensive play could have been better.
“I think we prepared well all week, but I think when it came down to it, on the defensive end, we didn’t play very good,” the first-year head coach said. “We didn’t have help side on the post, so (Covenant Christian) was able to get a lot of good open looks, and at times when we really did help the post it seemed like they got a couple three-point shots.
“Defensively we did not play well at all tonight. There’s still a lot to work on,” he added.
With nine games under their belt and after having seen both area opponents, Tharptown and Covenant Christian, at home, Bonner still believes his team can achieve their goals this year if they can continue to improve as the season rolls on.
“I definitely think we can make it out of this area. Obviously you want to win, and I think we’re good enough to win, but we’re gonna have to clean some stuff up,” Bonner said. “I told our guys it’s not about today, it’s about February. Wins and losses—I hate to lose, but it’s about February. That’s what I want us to be ready for.”
The Belgreen varsity boys’ basketball team travels to face Rogers for its next contest on Thursday, December 12.
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