By JONATHAN GREENE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
ROCKY GAP, Va. — First it was the Graham G-Girls who couldn’t buy a basket then it was the Bland County Lady Bears. Unfortunately for the Lady Bears, their cold spell came in the fourth quarter.
Bland County opened up a 8-2 lead in the first, but the G-Girls used a 9-0 run in the fourth to pull away for a 47-37 victory on Friday night at Rocky Gap High School.
“It’s a huge a game,” Graham head coach Tracy Raban said. “It’s always tough to come down here with the crowd and environment. This was a big game as far district standings.
“I thought our girls handle adversity there. A couple runs letting them get back in the game. It’s a big victory to come down here and pull this one out.”
Bland County led by one late in the third after a three by Jessie Blessing, but Karly Morgan hit two free throws for Graham to give them a slim lead at 28-27 after three. Then to start the fourth, the Bears struggled to handle the G-Girls defensive pressure which led to the 9-0 run which Bland County never was able to recover from.
“I knew it was going to be a slugfest,” Bland County head coach Jason Lambert said. “Both teams are about even and play extremely hard. Defensively both are solid and offensively, we struggle at times.
“There were two questionable calls —one in the first quarter. They put the foul on the wrong person and they come by an apologize. The fourth foul on the Harris girl I felt again it wasn’t a foul on her. In 10 seconds, she picks up her fifth before we could get her out. That was the change of the game.”
Bland County opened the game on a 6-0 run before Graham hit their first basket on a runner by Candice Lewis with 1:30 remaining in the quarter. Lewis would add a floater at the buzzer to make 8-4.
“I think we were overly pumped for it,” Raban said of the slow start. “We’ve had good practices the last couple of days. They were excited and ready for the game.
“We were a little bit too pumped and had to get down on the game level there. We were able to overcome it quickly enough to pull out the victory.”
The G-Girls tied it up at 11-all on a putback from Erin Wilson then took their first lead on a free throw by Lewis. It would stay close the rest of the half with Graham taking a 20-19 advantage into the locker room.
Four quick turnovers by the Bears to start the third allowed Graham to take a 26-19 lead. Julia Davis hit a jumper to stop the G-Girls which started an 8-0 run for Bland County which was capped off by Blessing’s three which gave the Bears a one-point lead. However, Morgan would hit two free throws before the end of the quarter to give Graham a 28-27 advantage.
The 9-0 run to start the fourth gave the G-Girls a 10-point lead and the closest Bland County would come the rest of the way was five points.
Lewis led Graham with 11 points. Liz Workman added nine.
Davis and Brinkley each had 10 for Bland County.
Graham (11-9, 5-3 MED) visits Fort Chiswell on Wednesday while Bland County (11-7, 5-3) heads to Northwood on Monday.
“That’s a big regional game for us,” Lambert said. “Northwood had their way with us at Bland. We’ll see how we’ve improved on the year.
Contact Jonathan Greene
at jgreene@bdtonline.com

at Rocky Gap High School
GRAHAM (11-9, 5-3)
Morgan 7, Wilson 4, Repass 6, Workman 9, Lewis 11, Gillespie 2, Stanley 7.
BLAND COUNTY (11-7, 5-3)
Davis 10, Blessing 7, Morgan 4, Eaton 2, P. Brinkley 10, Harris 2, Williams 2.
Graham............................4 16 8 19 — 47
Bland County..................8 11 8 10 — 37
3 pt field goals: GRA none; BC 3 (P. Brinkley 2, Blessing)