AM
Lady Wave pulls away from Bears
Bland County (36) Vs. Narrows (44)
Jan 24, 2014
By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
ROCKY GAP, Va. — When Narrows needed it most, the top scorers produced and the free throws dropped.
Tiffany Perdue and Shelby Baker combined for 15 fourth quarter points, and the Green Wave pulled away for a 44-36 Mountain Empire District win over Bland County on Friday night at Rocky Gap High School.
Shana Davis, the smallest player on the court at an even 5-foot, also made several key plays down the stretch, as the Green Wave outscored the Bears 18-12 in the final period.
“I will tell you who step it up more is Shana Davis on the press, she got some turnovers and she made her foul shots,” Narrows head coach Wayne Gautier said.
Free throws were also a factor. Narrows (8-5) was 12 for 26 from the charity stripe, including 5-of-16 through opening three periods. The Green Wave then made 7-of-8 to secure the win in the final quarter.
Perdue, who had three 3s and 16 points, was 4-for-4 in the last period, while Davis, who had seven points, was 3-of-4. Baker, who finished with 12 points, had six of those in the final period, but missed all six of her free throw attempts.
“Like I told Shelby the first part of the year, if they find out you can’t shoot foul shots they are going to put you on the line,” Gautier said. “You ain’t going to get no easy baskets. It is hack-a-Shaq or Dwight Howard, it is the same thing, they are going to foul you until you prove you can make them.”
Meanwhile, Bland County took two free throws, making both in the third.
“The other thing that is frustrating is we shot two free throws and they shot 26 and that tells me we are taking too many shots outside and not getting to the hole enough,” Bland County head coach Jason Lambert said. “What makes it even worse is when we do get an offensive rebound we kick it back outside.
“In girls basketball if you go right up with it they are going to call a foul, and we never even got close to the 1-and-1. They have may had two or three fouls in the first half and three in the second.”
Bland County (2-13), which dropped its 10th straight game, took a 14-11 lead in a cold-shooting first half. A 3 by Payton Carter at the second quarter buzzer enabled the Green Wave to pull within three at the break.
“The biggest killer is we are up six with 10 seconds left in the first half and we have a turnover and they get a 3 and cut it in half and that takes the momentum away from you,” Lambert said.
Both teams took time to adjust to being back on the floor after missing practice and game time because of weather.
“We can’t consistent because we never get to practice because of the weather or play,” Gautier said. “We come out cold, and it took us a half, just like the other night (in a 78-71 win over) East Mont, but we didn’t quit.
“It is a tough place to play up here always, it is a battle and tight rims.”
Lambert’s freshman daughter, Mallie, canned two long 3s to open the third quarter to push the Bears up 20-12, but the Green Wave pressured the Bears and followed with a 14-4 run, taking a 26-24 lead into the final period.
“We hurt them a little bit with that press and got a few turnovers and got back in the ball game,” Gautier said.
“Those are the things you can’t do with us because we can’t turn the ball over,” added Lambert, “because we don’t score many points and when you turn the ball over it is hard to win.”
With Baker struggling to make shots, the Green Wave went to Perdue, who had two third quarter 3s, and finished 15 points in the second half.
“Tiffany is a senior, she has got to step up,” Gautier said. “She has been struggling a little bit from the field and even with foul shots. She never misses foul shots, she has been here lately, but it is a mental thing.
“You have got to have the shooter’s mentality so you have to keep jacking them and she did and she came out and got some points for us.”
There were two ties and two lead changes to open the final period, with Bland County led by eight points from Tori Smith. Narrows responded with nine more points from Perdue to sweep the season series, having beaten the Bears 54-49 earlier this year.
“Darieh (Nagel) stepped up and Sam Weatherly had a good game and even Payton,” said Gautier, whose Green Wave will visit Radford in a key conference game on Monday. “We had a lot of people playing out of position because we couldn’t score.
“We had to put some more guards in and try to get some shots off. A good game, it is a conference game, it is a good win for us.”
Bland County was led by Eaton with 10 points, nine for Lambert and eight by Smith. Lambert has a young club, which continues to experience growing pains, but have gotten better even if it doesn’t show in the record.
“We are still young, I looked out there one time and we had three sophomores, a freshman, and a junior on the floor,” said Lambert. “It is going to get better, but we have got to keep working hard. I have seen improvement.”

at Rocky Gap High School
NARROWS (8-5)
Samantha Weatherly 1 3-4 5, Shana Davis 2 3-4 7, Tiffany Perdue 4 5-8 16, Darieh Nagel 0 0-2 0, Shelby Baker 6 0-6 12, Payton Carter 1 1-2 4, Courtney Smith 0 0-0 0, Victoria Wade 0 0-0 0, Megan Weatherly 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 12-26 44.
BLAND COUNTY (2-13)
Malee Lambert 3 0-0 9, Amber Eaton 5 0-0 10, Tori Smith 4 0-0 8, Kristen Dillow 1 0-0 3, Caitlin Fanning 0 0-0 0, Lindsey Watters 0 0-0 0, Lindsey Faulkner 0 0-0 0, Linsey Dean 0 0-0 0, Rachel Radford 0 0-0 0, Danielle Russo 1 0-0 2, Lakyn Patterson 0 2-2 2. Totals 14 2-2 36.
Narrows...........................6 5 15 18 — 44
Bland County.................8 6 10 12 — 36
3-point goals: NR 4 (Perdue 3, Carter 1); BC 4 (Lambert 3, Dillow 1). Total fouls: NR 7; BC 18. Fouled out: Russo. Technicals: none. JV—Narrows won.
Nightly Roundup
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Bland County 8 6 10 12 0 36
Narrows 6 5 15 18 0 44
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