By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BRUSHFORK — Five days made a big difference.
In a meeting at Richlands less than a week ago, the Lady Blues had survived a double-overtime thriller against Bluefield.
There would be no overtime in this one.
Essence Brown led three Bluefield scorers in double figures with 17 points, and Richlands was held to less than 20 percent from the field, as the Beavers avenged that loss with an impressive 62-39 rout on Tuesday night at the Brushfork Armory.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game coming up here,” Richlands head coach Dennis Palmer said. “We knew they were a good team, I am not disappointed that we lost, I am disappointed in how we played.”
Bluefield (13-4) had a lot to do with it. Richlands was just 11 for 51 from the field, including 5 for 26 in the opening half, with the Beavers taking a 30-17 lead into the break. That margin only continued to grow.
“They made a majority of their shots in the first game from the foul line so we kept them off the foul line,” Bluefield head coach Tony Mallamaci said. “We played a little bit better defense, we didn’t foul as much and moved our feet a little bit better.
“That helped a lot, and then we have just been working real hard on our defense, sliding our feet. I think that is what helped a whole lot on that.”
There was little doubt what Bluefield wanted to do on offense. Get the ball inside and take the ball to the hole.
“We have been trying to get the ball into the paint and try to get penetration,” Mallamaci said. “We have felt like our defense has been pretty good all year, but offensively we have been kind of struggling some.”
Not on this night.
“They have got a couple that can take it to the hole and we just didn’t defend them well,” Palmer said. “If they get Brown in the paint and (Jia) Coppola and (Dani) Janutolo, if they get in the paint, they are going to score because they are strong and they take it to the rim hard...
“You can’t just let them get in the paint before you start playing defense. We didn’t play defense early enough to keep them out of the paint.”
Brown connected for eight field goals from close range, while freshman Janutolo added 12 points and Coppola tallied seven, with all those points coming from, other than a few from the free throw line.
“They are hard to stop going inside,” Mallamaci said. “Some games it just doesn’t fall, tonight it just happened to fall a little bit.”
It didn’t for the Lady Blues, who were led in scoring by Montana Hearl, who had 13 points after scoring 31 in the previous game. Richlands had 28 points from the free throw line in that meeting, but just 15 in this one.
“She is tough, she is hard to keep out of the lane and when she gets to the foul line she is automatic,” Mallamaci said. “We kind of kept her off the foul line a little bit tonight and moved our feet a little bit better and that made a difference.”
Olivia Harmon had seven of her nine points in the opening half, including five in the first period with the Blues still down just 15-12. It was all Bluefield from there, with Richlands missing its first nine second quarter attempts, finishing 1 for 13 for the period to fall behind by 13 at the break
Richlands was hampered by not only poor shooting, but also had 12 costly first half turnovers, and nearly 25 for the game.
“We had a lot of turnovers, I think in the first half, we counted it up and they shot two outside, two 3s, and 24 points in the paint and foul line,” Palmer said. “If you are giving up points in the paint, you are not going to beat anybody.
“We gave up too many easy shots. Give Beaver credit, they come in ready to play and got after us and we didn’t come in focused and ready to play.”
The shooting woes continued after the break for Richlands, which made just 2 for 13 in the third, while the Beavers outscored the Lady Blues 13-3 to build a 43-20 advantage, building the lead to as much as 33 in the second half.
“Our movement wasn’t very good, we didn’t move the ball well, we didn’t pass the ball well, we were too soft on our passes, not strong enough with the ball and they are playing aggressive defense,” Palmer said. “When that happens you are going to bog down on offense.”
Richlands will complete its regular season tonight against Twin Valley, with hopes still alive to earn a bye in the opening round of the Southern Empire Conference (39) tournament being played next week.
“We have got one game left and then the tournament,” Palmer said. “Us and Graham are vying for second place in the conference so tomorrow night is a big game. It would help us a lot if we could win that one and secure second place.”
Emaleigh Gallinger added 11 points, including a trio of 3s, while Alyssa Lester had seven points and Jessica Hayden tossed in six for Bluefield, which travels on Friday to Mount View.
“I think we are beginning to gel a little bit, now if we can just put four quarters together,” Mallamaci said. “We played good in pieces in all four quarters, where down there we may have had a bad quarter or two.
“Now we have just got to put the whole quarters together.”
bwoodson@bdtonline.com /
/ Twitter @bdtwoodson

at Brushfork Armory
RICHLANDS (11-11)
Montana Hearl 4 5-5 13, Lani Rinehart 1 0-0 3, Seania Overton 1 0-4 2, Amber Street 0 2-2 2, Olivia Harmon 3 3-4 9, Ericah Burton 1 2-4 5, Hayleigh Whited 1 3-4 5, Kendra Humphrey 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 15-23 39.
BLUEFIELD (13-4)
Emaleigh Gallinger 4 0-0 11, Jia Coppola 2 1-2 7, Essence Brown 8 1-3 17, Jessica Hayden 2, 0-0 5, Dani Janutolo 4 4-4 12, Alyssa Lester 3 0-0 6, Abby Atwell 1 0-0 2, Sparrow Void 1 0-0 2, Courtney Auville 0 0-0 0, Alexi Trigg 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 6-9 62.
Richlands.........................12 5 7 15 — 39
Bluefield..........................15 15 24 8 — 62
3-point goals: RL 2 (Rinehart 1, Burton 1); BF 4 (Gallinger 3, Hayden 1). Total fouls: RL 9; BF 15. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.