By GEORGE THWAITES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BRUSHFORK — Bluefield head girls basketball coach Tony Mallamaci will be expecting some pretty stringent New Year’s resolutions from the Lady Beavers.
Bluefield absorbed a season-high 26 points from James Monroe’s Megan Bailey at Brushfork Armory on Tuesday and held off the Lady Mavericks 68-61 in its final game of 2015.
“We pulled out the win, but it’s still frustrating to see so many mistakes that are so fixable,” said Mallamaci, whose foul-depleted squad led by four with less than two minutes to play. “They’re not doing what we teach them to do in practice.”
The Lady Beavers ultimately staved off Monroe with a Dani Janutolo transition bucket and a 3-for-6 showing at the free throw line.
It was a far cry from the opening minutes. Bluefield (7-3) pounced on Monroe early with its 2-2-1 press, getting buckets from Janutolo, Autumn Spangler, Emaleigh Gallinger and Jia Coppola en route to claiming a 13-2 lead.
The Lady Mavericks (4-5) adjusted and solved the press, scrapping back to within a bucket by the close of the quarter. Monroe got seven straight points toward the end from Gracie Mann, including a wide open 3-pointer off a Taylor Sams crosscourt kick. Mann finished with 19 points.
The Mavs got within a point on Bailey’s 3-ball at 7:19 in the second frame. It was a cue for the Lady Beavers to start pushing back. Bluefield made good use of its size advantage as it built a 37-22 lead by Spangler’s late bucket.
Bailey got loose for one more trifecta before intermission to leave Bluefield leading by only 12.
“(Bailey) is a senior leader. She made some big shots when we needed the big shot,” said Monroe head coach Mike Hines, whose team’s quickness partially countered Bluefield’s significant size advantage.
“We were ready for that. We did what we had to do. We got them in foul trouble, ” said Hines, whose team travels to PikeView on Tuesday.
Coppola, who scored eight points in the third quarter to help keep the Mavs at arm’s length, finished with 16 points before fouling out with 2:41 in the forth quarter. Spangler scored her 16th point before sitting down with five in the final period.
Gallinger, who finished with nine points, didn’t get her fifth foul until 14.8 seconds remaining in the game. Mann sank both her free throws, but the seven-point margin was insurmountable at that stage.
“We made stupid fouls. We reach too much. We don’t move our feet. We get out of position and that causes us to foul,” Mallamaci said. “We didn’t play a very smart game.”
Janutolo scored 12 for the Lady Beavers, who face Graham at the Armory next Thursday.
“We didn’t work together as a team,” Janutolo said. “We need to work on teamwork. We need to talk. And we need to hustle.”

At Brushfork Armory
JAMES MONROE (4-5)
Chylynn Fox 2 0-0 5, Gracie Mann 5 8-15 19, Taylor Sams 0 1-2 1, Kelli Ellison 0 4-5 4, Megan Bailey 11 1-2 26, Holly Huffman 1 2-4 4, Wylie 0 0-0 0, Kameryn Fields 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 14-25 61.
BLUEFIELD (7-3)
Autumn Spangler 6 3-3 16, Alyssa Lester 3 2-2 8, Jia Coppola 6 4-8 16, Dani Janutolo 5 2-4 12, Emaleigh Gallinger 2 5-8 9, Eria Totten 0 0-0 0, Abby Atwell 1 3-4 5, Emilie Beggs 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 19-27 68.
James Monroe............15 13 12 21 — 61
Bluefield......................17 20 18 13 — 68
3-point goals: James Monroe 5 (Fox, Mann, Bailey 3), Bluefield 1 (Spangler).ꆱ