Tazewell 47, Bland County 37

By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

ROCKY GAP, Va. — Tazewell missed its first 21 shots of the game, and had just three made field goals through three quarters, and still won by 10.
“We didn’t shoot it that well,” Tazewell head coach Jason Southworth said. “At halftime I told the girls that is not going to keep happening, the lid is going to come off sooner or later. They just kept on believing and kept on fighting and came out with the win so they did a good job.”
The difference for the Bulldogs was taking 42 free throws and making 29 of them, including 14 of 21 in the opening half to trail the Bears 24-19.
“You give them credit, they made free throws, we didn’t slide our feet very well,” Bland County head coach Jason Lambert said. “To be honest, the refs were great, they were fine, but the other night (a loss to Auburn on Wednesday) we got away with a lot more.
“Tonight it was a little bit more contact, but give them credit, they made free throws. We struggled, we were up 7 or 8 one time and then we go a long stretch without scoring...”
Most of those free throws came from sophomore Gracie Cline, who finished with 19 points, including 15 of 18 from the charity stripe, and lone senior Ally Lee, who scored 14 points, converting on 9 of 11 from the free throw line. Abby Webb added eight points in the win.
Tazewell (1-0) was able to outscore the Bears 28-13 after the break, with the Bulldogs finally making five field goals in the final period after going 3 for 31 in the opening three periods.
“We got a lot better ball movement, moving our offense,” Southworth said. “We were a little stagnant at the beginning, but the second half we did a lot better job.”
Bland County (0-2), which was led by Malee Lambert with 12 points, eight by Kristin Dillow and six from Lakyn Patterson, took just 10 free throw attempts, and missed numerous shots close to the basket.
“We are so close, we have led in the third quarter both games,” said Lambert, who had three freshmen and a sophomore that saw extended playing time. “We are playing hard, we are competing, I am happy with that, but they just have to get a taste of winning.
“I think once they get a taste of winning, they will be fine, once they get that taste because they are still young...I think we will be fine once we get that winning taste.”

at Bland County High School
TAZEWELL (1-0)
Webb 2 4-6 8, Ray 0 0-0 0, Gracie Cline 2 15-18 19, Ally Lee 2 9-11 14, Moore 1 1-7 3, Crouse 0 0-0 0, Mitchem 0 0-0 0, Sheets 0 0-0 0, White 1 0-0 3. Totals 8 29-42 47.
BLAND COUNTY (0-2)
Malee Lambert 4 2-5 12, Walker 0 0-0 0, Patterson 2 2-2 6, Dillow 3 0-0 8, Pennington 2 0-0 4, Watters 1 0-0 2, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Fanning 1 0-0 2, Scott 1 1-3 3, Swetnam 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 5-10 37.
Tazewell..........................9 10 12 16 — 47
Bland County.................8 16 6 7 — 37
3-point goals: TZ 2 (Lee 1, White 1); BC 4 (Lambert 2, Dillow 2). Total fouls: TZ 15; BC 29. Fouled out: none.