There was a time, not too long ago, when Bridgeport girls’ basketball team couldn’t close out games. Although competitive and in position to win most of their outings against one of the toughest schedules in Class AA, the Indians found themselves with an 8-7 record.

 

After the regular season came to an end Wednesday with a victory, the girls found themselves the proud owners of a seven-game winning streak and a 15-7 record. And the win came against a talented Class AAA Buckhannon-Upshur by a 48-48 score.

 

“The girls are playing with a lot of confidence. There’s bounce in their step. Winning cures a lot of ills,” said Coach Dennis Hutson.

 

The win avenged an early season loss in December. B-U, now 13-9, won that game on its home floor 54-50.

 

The difference? It could easily be argued the play of senior Rory Marple.

 

Marple, whom Coach Dennis Hutson has said since the start of the season could be as dominant as she wants to be, apparently is wanting it more in recent games. On Wednesday, it came at the expense of the Buccaneers.

 

Not only did Marple lead her team with 15 points that included two 3-point field goals, but she was blistering from the field. Marple knocked down 6-of-7 shots from the floor in the win.

 

“Rory had another strong outing; that’s two straight after her big effort in the Lincoln win,” said Hutson. “She has to continue to do this tournament time and it’s something she can do and she knows I believe she can do. “I hope it’s a trend that continues on what we’re hoping is a good postseason run.”

 

The offense helped offset a rare night when fellow senior Emily Riggs didn’t light up the scoreboard. Riggs still finished with 11 points. Lauren Riffle rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Paige Humble’s continued emergence also played a part in the win with a game-leading 10 rebounds to go along with eight points.

 

“The balance has been there for most of this streak and it’s a key thing you want to see this time of the year because in the tournament if teams do things to stop Emily and Rory we’ve got others that are showing they can step up,” said Hutson. “Lauren had another nice outing, while Paige was just tenacious on defense and the boards. She’s been our most consistent rebounder this year.”

 

The first half was a close affair that saw the visitors trailing 21-17 at the intermission. Marple buried a triple just before the buzzer to give the Indians the four-point cushion.

 

B-U, however, didn’t let itself get rattled. Instead, the Bucs started the second half on an 8-0 surge to go up 25-21. And conversely, that run didn’t rattle the Tribe.

 

Bridgeport finished out the third quarter with a run of its own – this one of the 14-3 variety – to take a 35-28 advantage into the final eight minutes.

 

In the fourth, Bridgeport never trailed and B-U never got closer than six points. Twice the Indians stretched the advantage to 10 to help secure the victory.

 

Bridgeport will begin postseason play Wednesday. The Indians, the No. 2 seed in the sectional tournament, will host No. 3 Elkins with the game starting at 7 p.m.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Rory Marple going up strong, while bottom photo is of Emily Riggs breaking through B-U's pressure defense.  Photos by Matthew S. DeMaria of www.benqueenphotography.com.