COAL CITY — Mount View taught a young Independence team a painful lesson Wednesday night in Coal City.
Make bad passes and you'll pay. And pay.
The Lady Knights stole the ball 30 times and scored lay-ups or stickbacks on many of the turnovers en route to a 52-7 victory.
It was the 11th loss without a win for the Lady Patriots.
"We'd make mistakes and instead of trying to correct them, we'd watch the girl run down to the other end and score," Indy coach Justin Polley said. "We didn't hustle back or even give a foul."
Mount View (6-2) has a young team as well, but its seniors, point guard Tamia Joyce and wing Keshia Johnson, led by example.
Joyce made nine steals, snaring the ball out of the passing lanes or just picking the Lady Patriots' pockets. She scored lay-ups or hit foul shots on five of them, and scored 23 points.
She also hit three 3-point shots.
"She really controlled the game," said Mount View head coach Harold M. Smith. "She's headstrong, and I have to stay on her because she will take over a game herself, instead of doing what a point guard should do. I tell her that her points are extra. Her ball is to keep the ball moving and get it to the other shooters."
Johnson had eight thefts. She scored on two of them, plus on one of her five rebounds, to finish with 14 points. When Mount View was in its halfcourt game, she and Joyce were adept at finding the open player for the shot.
"I preach that all the time. We don't worry about who scores," Smith said. "You give the ball up, or you'll be over here with me."
Mount View led 10-1 after one quarter and 30-3 at halftime.
“We take pride in our defense because we don’t have a lot of people,” Smith said. “I tell them if we can cheat the score down, and stay in the game until the last quarter, with the shooters we have we can win."
Independence not only shot itself in the foot with bad passes, but its shots just would not fall.
"Our free throw shooting was 3 for 9, and we shot six percent from the field, in our own building," Polley said. "I've never heard of that.
"You can't win basketball games if you don't have someone who can create off the dribble, or have someone who is ready to score," Polley said. "Our girls are right-hand, right-hand. We forget we even have a girl on the left."
Amazingly, considering the number of steals, Mount View did not utilize a full-court press. Smith said he can't due to a small roster.
"People ask me, 'Coach, why don't you press full-court?', and I say, 'What do you want me to do, kill those five girls?' Smith said. "The girls will say, 'Let us press,' and I tell them I'm glad they want to do it, but I know what's best for us as a team."
Kaitlyn Gillespie had eight points and eight rebounds for the Lady Knights, while Destiny Robinson grabbed nine boards and Jasmine Lash had seven to go with five steals. Alycia Barner had four steals and two rebounds in the fourth quarter.
Mount View plays tonight at Bluefield.
Chloe Lane led Independence with four points and four rebounds. Jessica Lilly had seven boards and Shay Harris grabbed five.
Independence plays at Class AA No. 2 Wyoming East tonight.
"We're going to the best team in the state," Polley said. "I've seen Fairmont Senior and North Marion (ranked ahead of East) and Wyoming East is the best team."
Polley, who coached last year at Liberty, added, "This is an uphill battle for us. We need an aggressive mentality that's not been here."

At Independence
MOUNT VIEW (6-2)
Tamia Joyce 8 4-4 23, Keshia Johnson 6 1-2 14, Destiny Robinson 1 0-0 2, Jasmine Lash 2 0-0 5, Kaitlyn Gillesie 4 0-0 8, LIsa Johnson 0 0-0 0, Alycia Barner 0 0-0 0, Zawanna Bailey 0 0-0 0, Cheylan Cummings 0 0-0 0, Kenisha Swanson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 5-6 52.
INDEPENDENCE (0-11)
Chloe Lane 1 2-5 4, Jessica Lilly 0 1-4 1, Shay Harris 1 0-0 2, Emily Brown 0 0-0 0, Jazmine Ball 0 0-0 0, McKinley Blankenship 0 0-0 0, Kasey Hart 0 0-0 0, Marissa Meade 0 0-0 0, Allison Hampton 0 0-0 0. Totals: 2 3-4 7.
Mount View.............10 20 13 9 — 52
Independence............1 2 3 1 — 7
Three-point goals: MV 4 (Joyce 3, Johnson); I None. Fouled out: None.