Sorry for such a long delay between the end of the Indians football season and the first post of the basketball season. Between my job and trying to do the games, its been kinda hectic. Considering that there are two teams (boys & girls) that I’d have to write on it gets confusing. But I’m just going to do a quick glance right now and by the end of the season, I’ll get more up on both Indian basketball teams. This is the first of the breakdowns on two teams.
As manners dictate, we’ll start with the ladies first. Coach Dale McCumbee is in his 19th year as the head coach of the Lady Indians. Over the past 18 years, the span from the 2004-05 to the current team has been the winningest stretch of his career 64-32 (as of 1/30/09). The 2007-08 season had a few firsts for Coach McCumbee: first trip to the state tournament and first technical. The team he had last year had some of the best talent he’s ever had, and because of graduation, McCumbee only lost two players from last year’s squad and another because of a transfer. Three key players from last year return from the state tournament team: two seniors – one coming back from an injury that kept her out for the majority of the year – and a junior.
The two seniors, Rebecca Trump and Amber Booher were big threats last year. Booher was a threat both scoring and rebounding. I don’t have her stats from last year, but from what I remember, she was a threat whenever she had the ball. Trump missed the majority of the season due to an injury she suffered during the soccer season. When she did come back, albeit with a little hesitation, she was a threat from behind the arc and defensively. The junior Jess Haynes, last year was a firecracker on defense. She was there and played hard. She was a scoring threat as well. This year, these three young ladies are coming together to produce one of the hardest playing teams in the area and they aren’t alone. They have welcomed two freshmen, yes FRESHMEN, to the line-up and these two are quality players.
Deidra Burch and Harlie Stotler are big pieces in the team that Coach McCumbee sends out on the floor each night. While they may only be freshmen, they play like upperclassmen. Burch is a guard who is the extension of the coach on the floor. She runs the team almost to perfection. Stotler is the big girl who is there for the boards. She’s not afraid to mix it up underneath and battle for the rebound and not afraid to put the ball back up after an offensive rebound.
The Lady Indians aren’t just limited to those five young ladies. The supporting cast is just as important. You have the likes of senior Shauni Stevens, juniors Alyssa Spielman and Lesley Yost, and others who rotate between varsity and junior varsity coming off the bench to provide a different look for the Indians every so often. Coach McCumbee said before the Petersburg game on January 21 that the girls he has on this team put the team first and hasn’t heard any complaints about playing time. These girls that are on the bench know where they fit into the system and are happy to be there.
Now, on to the important stuff… STATS! Booher leads the team in scoring averaging 15 points a game. In the last game we did, the previously mentioned Petersburg game, she had a game high 19 points. The big thing with that 19 points was she was perfect from the foul line, I think three for three. Her worst game of the year pointwise was a meager eight against Jefferson in the second game of the year, but the whole team struggled in that game.
Under the glass Amber Booher is again the team leader. She has a total of an even 100 boards (46 offensive, 54 defensive) on the year. Stotler is a distant second with a total of 54 and Burch nipping at her heels in third with 51. The rebounding for the Indians has drastically improved. They are going hard after the ball and being very aggressive to get the board.
A new name pops up when it comes to assists. Jess Haynes leads the team with 34. Burch and Booher are right behind her with 33 and 32 assists respectively. The ball movement that these girls have is almost on par with a John Beilein type team. They move the ball until someone can get the shot and always find the open player. It may seem that the assist numbers are low, but the way these girls play, most of their points come from the defensive play.
I’ve been doing ballgames on WCST for about four years. Over that time I don’t think I’ve seen a Berkeley Springs team play this awesome a defense in basketball. The Lady Indians play a pressure defense that causes confusion among the other team and creates the bad shot, a turnover, or a steal. Right now, the Indians have 182 steals. Diedra Burch leads the team with 50 steals. This girl hustles and can sneak around her man and just swipe the ball from them. Booher also gets in on the thievery with her 43 take aways. All-in-all, no matter who is in the lineup for the Indians are playing sound defense.
This team as of January 22, 2009 sits at 9-4. The only losses of the season coming from Jefferson, Frankfort, Southern Fulton, and Martinsburg. In the Jefferson and Martinsburg games, the Indians led at halftime, but couldn’t hold the lead and ended up getting blown out. In the Southern Fulton game, Berkeley Springs ran into another really good Indians team and just couldn’t stick the win. I wasn’t at the game, but from what I understand, it was closer than the JHS and MHS games. Frankfort is always a tough team no matter the record. The Indians went up to Short Gap for that game, but get revenge on January 24 at home. Come out to that game and support Indians. Treat it like a gold-out that WVU usually does. Wear your gold/yellow sweat shirt – WVU or BSHS, it doesn’t matter! Of course you can listen to the game on WCST if you can’t make it to the high school.
Stats are from maxpreps.com
** Thanks to Coach McCumbee for setting me straight on the winning seasons. I apologize for the mistake!**
**some calculations in stats have changed between edits. Click the above link for up to date stats**
