No. 8 Lady Bulldogs capture fifth straight area championship
The Belgreen High School varsity girls' basketball team is Class 2A Area 14 champion.
The No. 8-ranked Lady Bulldogs, hosts of the area title game, defeated Covenant Christian for the third time this season and earned the area crown with a 53-36 victory on Monday night. It's their fifth straight area title, first since moving up from Class 1A to 2A.
Belgreen (23-8) led by as much as 22 points late in the game, but the Lady Bulldogs got off to a sluggish start at the beginning of the first and second halves. Missed open lay-ups, lackluster defending, and other miscues kept BHS from putting the Lady Eagles away early, a disappointing aspect of the contest from the perspective of BHS head coach Chad Green.
"You're always proud to win an area championship, but I wish we would've put a better performance on the court," Green said. "We just didn't do well tonight. We didn't defend well. Give credit to Covenant Christian, Coach Winston over there. We just didn't defend well, couldn't put the ball in the hole, so we just didn't play very well tonight."
From here on out it's win or go home for every team in the state left standing. To achieve their ultimate goals this season, Green said, the Lady Bulldogs will need to put together better performances going forward.
"I think the nerves got the best of us early on tonight. We couldn't hit the lay-ups, couldn't hit the easy shots, and you know when you get into the playoffs you've gotta be able to do that to make it further and further," he said. "That's something we've definitely got to do a better job of if we want to go a long way this year."
As area champs Belgreen earned the right to host the subregional on Friday night. It's certainly an added advantage for the Lady Bulldogs to play in front of their faithful fans who have shown the team a lot of support this season, Green said.
"We love to play in front of our fans. They support us all year long. Belgreen loves basketball, so we're glad that we can come back here Friday night," he said.
Belgreen was led by Lilliana Willingham, who scored 18 points. Bryn Scott added nine points and Dacota Green eight points for the Lady Bulldogs.
BHS will host Area 10 runner-up Lamar County in the subregional on February 7.