Tanya Chilton | The News
Dana Brown and Jasmine Varney defend tough against Forbush.
The Mount Airy girls basketball team dominated the Forbush Falcons on the court last night by a score of 63-44 and Symone Simmons was the game’s high scorer with 13 points.
Five of Symones’ 13 points came in the fourth quarter, said girls’ Head Coach Howard Mayo.
Mayo contributed part of Saturday’s win to the team’s depth.
“The fact that we can play nine, 10 and 11 players and they were only playing with eight wore them down,” Mayo said.
The competition stayed close until the fourth quarter. The Bears were only ahead by four points against the Falcons at half-time and the score was 24-20. In the third quarter, the Bears still only scored three more points than the Falcons.
The turning point in the game came, when in the fourth quarter, the Bear girls went on a 23-point run to the Falcons 11 points, said Mayo. “The flexibility of our team brought depth at the perimeter and the post.”
The open jump shot that Mayo had wanted all night finally appeared, he said
“In the fourth, we hit four three-pointers.” However, Mayo added, “We are capable of knocking down 10 to 12 three-pointers in a ballgame.”
Dana Brown, Alex Atkins, Andi Moore and Jasmine Varney all made three-point jump shots in the fourth quarter.
Overall on offense, the team was not quite as sharp as it needed to be, Mayo said.
“We missed open jump shots and our strength lies in the ability to spread people out, get open and we did not do a good job of making that happen or making the jump shots.”
Mayo said a big key to the team’s success so far in the preseason is related to the fact that this team trusts each other.
“They know each one of them will step up and make plays,” Mayo said.
Mayo said the defense last night was pretty good, but could have been better.
“We did a pretty good job of pressuring their offense, but defense is something that we have to get even better at. We must force more turnovers. We must get quicker at anticipating passes and our rotations,” Mayo said.
The Bear team recorded 10 steals for the team against the Falcons. Symone Simmons and Kathryn Beasley stole three, Davi Barbour stole two, and Andi Moore and Mikayla Seivers each stole one.
Kathyrn Beasley was leading rebounder with seven, and Davi Barbour had four assists to go along with 12 points.
Last night’s game high scorers were Symone Simmons with 13 points; Davi Barbour, 12 points; and Mikayla Seivers, 10 points.
The Falcons’ high scorer was Savannah Hill.
The Lady Bears will play away Friday at Elkin High School.
Reach Tanya Chilton at tchilton@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1921.
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