By BOB REDD
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
MONTCALM — The Bluefield Lady Beavers used a strong inside presence with its 6’1 post players and claimed a 59-19 win over the Montcalm Lady Generals, Wednesday night.
“Any time you play Montcalm, those kids play extremely hard,” said Bluefield head coach Tony Mallamaci. “They battle no matter what the score is, that’s why I like playing them because they make you play hard the whole game.”
Montcalm scored the first points of the game on a free throw by Miranda Kendrick, but Bluefield then went on a 19-5 run the rest of the first period. Key for the Lady Beavers was their press in the inside play of Dazia Edwards, who put in nine of Bluefield’s first quarter points. Jesslyn Fullerton’s lay up at the buzzer gave the Lady Beavers a 19-6 lead after one.
In the second period a Lady Beaver named Dazia continued to dominate play in the paint as Dazia Taxley came off the bench to score 10 points in the quarter. Fullerton again made a basket at the buzzer and Bluefied led 37-8 at the break.
Bluefield in the third got strong inside play from Teryn Auville who scored five points, including 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
In the final period Kendrick scored six to pace the Montcalm attack, but it was not enough as Fullerton again made her third shot at the buzzer during the game to make the final score 59-19.
Montcalm head coach Jim McPherson said, “You couldn’t really tell it from the scoreboard, but this was a more competitive game than the first time we played them. We were actually able to come out and handle the pressure well. We had a few turnovers, but against pressure you’re going to have turnovers. We were looking up the floor and trying to do the right things, but their size was the dominating factor.
“I wrote in the locker room at halftime, ‘6-1 is greater than 5-5.’ That was the kill all. We would get the ball inside where it needed to be and couldn’t get a shot off, or a pass out of there. That was the major deciding factor in tonight’s game.”
Edwards, whose brother D.J. scored 26 to lead the Bluefield boys to victory, Tuesday night, led the Lady Beavers with 13, while Taxley came off the bench and added 10.
Kendrick had a game-high 14 for Montcalm.
Bluefield (11-9) returns to the court Friday night when Mount View visits the Brushfork Armory. Montcalm (5-11) will visit Fayetteville on Friday.

BLUEFIELD (59)
Katelyn Thompson 1 1-2 4, Dazia Taxley 5 0-0 10, Jesslyn Fullerton 3 1-4 7, Tyra Jackson 0 0-0 0, Jessica Hayden 2 0-0 4, Dazia Edwards 6 1-3 13, Abby Atwell 2 0-0 4, Destiney Sims 1 0-0 2, Marceda Lee 2 1-3 6, Khadijah Brown 1 0-0 2, Teryn Auville 1 3-4 5, Katie Muscera 0 0-0 0, Courtney Auville 1 0-2 2, Totals 25 7-18 59.
MONTCALM (19)
Alexis Mabe 0 0-0 0, Miranda Kendrick 4 5-6 14, Autumn Bouldin 0 0-0 0, Brenna Tyree 1 0-1 2, Leslie Kelley 0 0-0 0, Hannah Johnson 1 0-0 3, Megan Coleman 0 0-0 0, Adrienne Williams 0 0-0 0, Natalie Lockhart 0 0-0 0, Totals 6 5-7 19.
Bluefield...................19 18 11 11 — 59
Montcalm..................6 2 5 6 — 19
3-point baskets: B - 2 (Thompson, Lee), M - 2 (Kendrick, Johnson). Fouled out- none. Technical fouls - none.