Lady Knights get first win of season Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 24 2009 05:06 AM By Alex Byington
Killeen Daily Herald

HARKER HEIGHTS – Since taking over the Harker Heights girls basketball program, victories have been few and far between for second-year coach Shirretha Nelson.

And while it may not have had the glory of a few years ago, when the Lady Knights made back-to-back playoff appearances under former coach Lisa Hess, Monday night's 59-47 victory over Lampasas was just as sweet.

"A win's a win – we'll take what we can get," Nelson said. "(We're) excited to have the win, because, of course, you can have otherwise, but we need to keep building and keep working."

Relieved to get the proverbial monkey off their back, Nelson credited Heights' first victory of the season to teamwork.

"Tonight I think we played better as a team. It was more of a team effort," Nelson said. "There were a lot of mistakes, it wasn't very clean and it wasn't the best basketball game we've played this year, but we pulled together.

"All the extra parts started to fall in line and I think that made the difference to pull it out," Nelson added.

On the other end of the court, things just seemed to fall apart for the Lady Badgers (3-4), who struggled all game against the Lady Knights' aggressive style of play.

"That's the worst we've played all year. We didn't have effort, we didn't block out, we didn't rebound, we didn't shoot, we didn't run an offensive set – not once – and we didn't play defense," said Lampasas coach Stuart Beckwith. "Other than that, it was a good game."

Opening with an attacking full-court press, the Lady Knights (1-3) forced a shocked Lampasas team into six turnovers on its first seven possessions while pounding the ball in the paint on the other end, scoring six of their first eight points on free throws as Heights mounted an 8-0 lead over the first three minutes of the game.

Leading the charge was 5-foot-11 junior post Bianca Patterson, who reached the line three times in the first quarter and battled her way to a team-high 20 points, 14 of which came in a second half spurt.

"She got a lot of touches on the ball. We've really been talking about stepping up our inside game and I think we made a great attempt at that tonight," Nelson said of Patterson. "... It's about finishing and she finished at the end."

Pushing their weight around much of the game, the Lady Knights made it their mission to dominate the paint for rebounds and second-chance opportunities, so much so they were constantly drawing fouls, reaching the line 25 times.

"They rebounded extremely well, they pressured us extremely well, and in the full court, they did a lot of good things," Beckwith said. "My hat's off to them, they took the game to us and we really just backed down."

Continuing their strong play inside much of the game, Heights got a little help on the outside from sophomore guard Brianna Golden, who almost single-handedly kept Lampasas at bay with nine of her 14 points in a back-and-forth second quarter as a Lady Badgers' rally came up short.

"I guess we're just not in the physical shape enough to maintain the type of effort it required to make that run," Beckwith said. "We just quit playing defensively when we got back in the game, we quit blocking out and quit rebounding and that's what that team (Heights) thrives on – second, third, fourth and fifth chances. They outplayed us in every aspect of the game."

Garnering the most attention for the Lady Badgers were 5-foot-10 senior posts Sarah Bishop and Lauren Barlow, who had 13 points apiece.

Contact Alex Byington at alexb@kdhnews.com or at (254) 501-7566.