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February 20, 2007

Panthers beat Mavericks' press

By TOM BONE

BLUEFIELD — Both PikeView and James Monroe used presses to create wrinkles in their opposition’s offensive fabric Tuesday night.

The Panthers used their size and shooting touch to smooth them out and advance to the sectional championship with a 73-58 win over the Mavericks at Bluefield High School to open up the Class AA, Region VII, Section 2 postseason.

The Mavs’ all-out presses and triangle-and-two defense caught the favored Panthers off guard, but PikeView fought back to force five ties in the first quarter. The Panthers took a 17-14 lead at the end of the first quarter on a three-pointer by Krystal Davis.

PikeView head coach Karen Miller said, “I was real surprised with the James Monroe press. I knew they would try several different things. ... We got rattled a little bit, but once we got going, our pressure, our fast break, and our inside and outside game started going and that helped out.”

James Monroe coach John Mustain said, “We wanted to come in and try something different. ... What the press did more than anything was, it kind of shocked them. We’re not usually a pressing team, especially against them. We did some good things with it.”

The Panthers took a 40-27 halftime margin, but allowed the Mavericks to go on a 13-3 run in the third quarter to tighten the score to 45-40.

PikeView center Trista Thomas said, “I was kind of scared a little bit. They made a huge run and we couldn’t stop it.”

“We were rushing things,” Miller said. “The key thing for us is to take our time and work the inside out, and take the good shots.”

A Laken Coburn jumper and a hard drive by Thomas broke the run, and PikeView outscored the Mavs 22-14 in the final period.

Coburn scored 20 points and Thomas had 19 points for the victors. Thomas and her sister Samantha had all they could handle in the paint from the James Monroe rebounders, particularly Kelly Boone, who also scored 26 points.

Thomas said, “I just had to work for it, and box out, and get around No. 12 (Boone). She’s a great ballplayer. It was hard-earned points.

“We have an inside-outside game. If our inside game isn’t working, we just go out to the outside — and we’ve got great shooters.”

It was Boone’s second-best point output as a Maverick. “You have to play hard in the sectionals, because it could be one of your last games,” she said.

Boone added, “The rest of my team sometimes becomes a little timid about shooting, (but) tonight they all stepped up and shot the ball, which meant that the (PikeView) team had to get on them and not focus on the inside that much.

“We worked in practice a lot this week on getting position and rebounding on girls who’re a lot bigger than you.”

Mustain said, “I thought for the most part, we boxed out pretty well. The thing that happens with them is that when Laken starts driving, and people have to step up to cut her off, she dishes off. She drives well and finishes, and drives well and passes. She’s hard to handle.”

Mustain said, “I thought we had a good game plan. I thought we executed pretty well. It was just a matter of, down the stretch, they had a little bit better shooters than us, a little bit more size. ...

“Ultimately they’re a little bit quicker than us. I told the girls, I thought that was the best team effort we’d had all year, by far. Everyone contributed.”

“We got down by 15 a couple of different times, and got back in the game. So we gave ourselves a chance. The thing we’ve got to do in the future is to not let the lead get that far out of hand to begin with. But all in all, I thought we played fantastic.”

PikeView will play Bluefield at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the BHS gym for the sectional title. That winner takes on the victor from the Summers County-Shady Spring sectional game.

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com



At Bluefield High School

JAMES MONROE (4-15)

Emma Upton 1 0-0 3, Kelly Boone 12 2-4 26, Kara Terry 3 2-3 8, Holly Wilson 1 5-6 7, Devon Amos 0 2-6 2, Taylor King 2 0-0 4, Amy Johnson 1 1-2 3, Mecalla Smith 0 2-2 2, Whitney Skelton 1 0-1 3. Totals 21 14-24 58.

PIKEVIEW (15-6)

Susanna Jennings 1 0-0 3, Laken Coburn 7 6-8 20, Krystal Davis 2 0-0 6, Leah Cook 3 0-0 7, Courtney Shrader 2 0-1 4, Gabby Begovich 2 2-2 7, Samantha Thomas 2 3-4 7, Trista Thomas 8 3-4 19. Totals 27 14-19 73.

James Monroe........14 13 17 14 — 58

PikeView..................17 23 11 22 — 73

Three-point goals – JM 2 (Upton, Skelton); PV 5 (Davis 2, Cook 1, Jennings 1, Begovich 1). Fouled out – JM, Terry; PV, none.

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