Honeybees sting Cove defense in 71-55 victory Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 18 2009 05:25 AM By Angel Verdejo
Killeen Daily Herald

COPPERAS COVE – Sixteen seconds into their home opener Tuesday, the Copperas Cove Lady Bulldawgs took their only lead of the night off a short jumper from Shina McCoun.

The momentum quickly went toward the visiting Stephenville Honeybees as the Lady Dawgs struggled defensively for most of the game, which in turn put the team in a hole offensively that it could never recover from. Stephenville matched Cove's opening basket on its next possession, jumped out to a double-digit lead over the next two minutes and went on for the 71-55 win on the road.

"I don't know where our defense went," Cove coach Richard Herbst said. "I mean they shot it well, but that's because we didn't defend them well. It's what we talked about and it's what we do, and we didn't."

Cove (3-3) is a smaller team with its tallest player – junior Traonna Shedrick – listed at 5-foot-11. The Lady Dawgs are a defensive-minded team, Herbst said, which then carries over its offense.

Stephenville and its hot-handed shooters took full advantage of Cove's defensive struggles. Brianna Bledsoe tied McCoun's opening basket before the teams traded turnovers. The Honeybees (3-0) took the lead on a Gabby Lazarine shot under the basket then scored on three consecutive possessions in transition to jump out to an 11-2 lead and force a Cove timeout.

It didn't get any better for the Lady Dawgs, who missed six straight shots after the opening basket. Stephenville scored 11 of the next 13 points, with the final six coming from the foul line.

"Our shots were going in," Stephenville coach Alan Thorpe said. "We were hitting from the outside and we're pretty good penetrators. So when you're penetrating, you can kick and hit an outside three. It opens a lot of stuff up."

Cove followed with a pair of Desiree Nelson foul shots and scored on consecutive possessions for the first time after a Shedrick offensive rebound and put back. By then though, Cove was down 24-8 roughly six minutes into the game.

"We dug a hole and didn't respond how you have to respond," Herbst said. "For us, it really hurts because we're just not experienced enough to take our time and catch up. We're still in a mind set where we panic and we have to score 50 points in these next two minutes.

"We'll get there, but we sure didn't show any of it tonight."

It was a domino effect for the Lady Dawgs, starting with a struggling transition which Stephenville converted to easy offense. Once back on offense, Cove made numerous mistakes forcing passes or shots, putting itself right back on defense. The Lady Dawgs shot 33 percent from the floor, but 14 percent in the first quarter.

Nelson had a game-high 21 points and was one of 10 Lady Dawgs to score. Stephenville had four players finish in double figures, including Bledsoe's 19 points and 17 from Alex Huckabee (five 3-pointers).

Cove cut Stephenville's lead to 19 points at halftime, but came out cold to start the third quarter. Savannah Seybold hit a 3-pointer for the period's first points (7:08 on the clock). The Honeybees quickly answered with eight straight points, forcing a Cove timeout. Stephenville stretched its lead to 30 points (55-25) with 3:05 left in the quarter while the Lady Dawgs went nearly five minutes without a basket.

"Toward the end, we were doing more things a little bit better," said Herbst, as Cove outscored Stephenville 23-12 in the fourth quarter. "I thought we made some steps but tonight we took a step backward."

Contact Angel Verdejo at averdejo@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7564.