BLYTHEWOOD – LaKyra Weeks sank the front end of a pair of foul shots.
Alexis Mims stepped up to the foul line and delivered on both of her free throws.
Keke Jackson found her way into the paint and got a quick bucket just before the first-quarter buzzer.
That’s how the Blythewood girls finished the first quarter, taking a 13-9 lead on Region V-5A rival Dutch Fork Tuesday night.
And then the Bengals went scoreless for the next 15 minutes and 59 seconds.
The Silver Foxes, not putting forth their best scoring effort of the year, used that scoring drought to hold off the Bengals 36-22.
Nylah Terry (23) slashes her way to the basket. | Leroy Howard
“We felt really good at the end of the first period, the girls were up and hyped,” Blythewood head coach Steve Inabinet said. “And then that drought came and we couldn’t buy one (a basket).”
Blythewood (2-9 overall, 0-2 region) was just 4-of-17 shooting in the first half, or 24 percent. In the second and third quarters the Bengals missed all of their shots and finished the game with 8-for-29 shooting.
Even so, Dutch Fork proved vulnerable with poor shooting of its own throughout the game. The Silver Foxes went 8-for-23 in the first half for a 35 percentage, and 14-for-42 for the game.
Dutch Fork even committed 20 turnovers on the night, and while winning the boards 32-18, the Silver Foxes lacked ball control to seal the win, even with a 16-minute shutout of their opponent.
Whether from inside the lane or from the three-point line, shooting eludes the Bengals. Mims finished the night with a team-high 7 points. Jackson had 6.
Madison Golden had 14 points to lead the Silver Foxes (10-3, 2-0).
The going has been tough for the Bengals, even though their defense frustrated Dutch Fork throughout the game. All that can be said is that the shots haven’t fallen, and scoring is an issue, Inabinet said.
“They’re playing hard and they’re trying hard,” said Inabinet, whose Bengals won a couple of mid-season tournament games. “But it’s getting in their mind if they’re ever going to win a game. We’re trying to get them out of that mode, trying to make them understand that if you play hard, good things will happen.”
DF – 9 – 10 – 9 – 8 — 36
BHS – 13 – 0 – 1 – 8 — 22
DFHS: Madison Golden 14, Barnwell 7, Sanders 4, Molovic 4, Harris 3, Robinson 2, Anderson 2.
BHS: Mims 7, Jackson 6, Emetu 4, L. Weeks 3, Nicholes 2