FeedsBelleville holds off Inkster
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Taylor Manley was instrumental in Belleville's 73-68 victory over Mega rival Inkster last Tuesday. She scored 25 points in the outing.It’s official. Belleville is the team to beat in the Mega Red basketball conference.
The Lady Tigers recently punctuated that statement with a 73-68 victory against a tough Inkster host team on Tuesday. The win pushed Belleville’s streak to 14 in a row. They are 14-1 overall and 10-0 in the Red. Inkster fell to 5-6 in league play.
Both teams tired in the fourth from playing full-court presses the entire way in hopes of keeping the other’s star players quiet. In the end, though, everyone got their’s.
Inkster’s senior forward Lonnie Terrell led all scorers with 33 points. Her teammate, Brittany Scales, added 13 and snagged 10 rebounds. On the other side of the court, Belleville’s leading scorer, senior Taylor Manley, knocked down 28 and Danica Holmes contributed 17.
The full press took its toll on Belleville. While up by 12 points, 68-56, late in the fourth, Inkster battled back with a 12-3 run—scoring seven in the final 22 seconds—to bring the Lady Vikings to within five at the final buzzer.
“We struggled there down the end—we were tired,” said Belleville Coach Kevin Edwards. “We pressed the entire time. That was key coming in because they’re bigger than us—they get down here and it’s hard to play with them.
“I knew it was going to be a physical game,” he said. “I kept telling the girls to keep playing hard and fight through it. I told them one of the things we had to do was put the ball on the glass and go get it—we have to block out.”
Inkster played a physical game that sent Belleville to the line seven times in the final frame. That’s where the Lady Tigers shined, hitting 11-of-14 from the stripe. Inkster also shot well form the line, too, making six of its eight free throws.
Edwards also said that keeping Terrell under control is always a priority but sometimes there’s not much that can be done against the all-state forward.
“Lonnie is going to get hers,” he said. “I don’t know what she ended up with but (Kendall) Acho did a good job on her.”
Belleville held Terrell to three points in the first half. That helped the Lady Tigers take a 15-12 lead after eight minutes. Manley scored 10 of her points in the first, including a triple with 33 seconds left.
“Once again it was key to stop Lonnie,” Manley said. “She ended up scoring a lot but we tried. We knew it would be a physical game we knew we had it coming.”
“We had to stay on her and everyone did their part and played a good game,” Holmes added.
The Tigers upped the advantage, outscoring Inkster, 19-14, in the second. That time Holmes led Belleville with eight.
“That’s usually how it happens—usually Taylor than me,” said Holmes. “We just have to turn it on at the beginning of the game and that’s going to make us better players. We just had to stay focused. And we did. We stayed in the game and kept playing hard.”
Neither team let up in the second half. Inkster outscored Belleville by one point in the third to make it a 48-41 game in favor of the Tigers. Then the teams combined for 52 points in the final frame. Inkster scored 27 on the comeback trail but it was too little, a little too late.
Although Inkster lost, there was plenty for the Lady Vikings to be happy about. They showed continuity and team chemistry—the elements that took them deep into the state tournament last year.
“I can handle a loss better when we play like we played tonight,” said Inkster Coach Peggy Carr. “We played hard all the time and (the girls) followed our game plan and they did what we wanted them to do. We just didn’t hit some of the shots we wanted to; we didn’t convert. I can handle that but I can’t handle us not working hard. We’ve been working hard on offense and making teams play defense against us like they make us play.”
So far there has been no problems with Belleville’s chemistry.
“We bond very well—that’s the key; we all have to bond,” Manley said. “We have to know where everyone is on the floor and that’s where the bonding comes in.”
Belleville only has three teams in their way to a perfect conference season. The Tigers are at Romulus (Nov. 2) and host Wyandotte (Nov. 7) and Monroe (Nov. 9). Then it is district time, starting the week of Nov. 13.
“We have a lot of confidence now that we think we can win it all,” Holmes said. “We just have to take it one game at a time like coach tells us.”
Belleville went and defeated host Lincoln Park, 52-24, on Thursday. Manley and Holmes each scored 18 in the contest.
Inkster beat host Romulus, 78-58, on Thursday.
Terrell led the way with 37 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals. Scales added 20 and also had 10 rebounds. Erika Wasson scored 20 for Romulus and Jasmine Brown added 14.
