The Bridgeport High School girls basketball team returns to action tonight with a road game against East Fairmont.

 

The Indians are currently riding a three-game win streak that has put them back above .500 with a record of 8-7.

 

Two of last week’s victories were against fellow Class AA Region II foes, a 53-52 win against Lewis County and most recently a 49-32 win against Nicholas County on Saturday.

 

Sandwiched between those two games was a 62-35 win against another Big 10 Conference opponent, Philip Barbour.

 

Against Nicholas County, Bridgeport led comfortably throughout but the margin could have been greater had the Indians not struggled to make layups. They missed no fewer than 10 in the first half. Fortunately, they made up for it at the other end of the court where they forced 31 turnovers.

 

“I told them at the beginning of the year that I can draw up all the Xs and Os they want but if we can’t make a layup we are in trouble,” BHS coach Herman Pierson said. “But there’s no question we were active on defense. The past three or four weeks we have been a lot more active. We even executed some offense even if we didn’t necessarily finish it. If they continue to do that, they will continue to get better.”

 

The layup issues against the Grizzlies went away to start the third quarter as the Indians made four in a row — one by Gabby Reep and three by Hannah Bartlett — to open up a 38-12 lead and they never looked back.

 

Paige Humble led a balanced scoring attack for the Indians against Nicholas County with 10 points. Anamarie Pinti added nine, while Reep and Bartlett each finished with eight.

 

Making shots was not an issue in the 27-point win against the Colts. Humble was 7-of-11 from the floor and finished with a game-high 20 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals. Reep added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

 

“We shot the ball well,” Pierson said. “I think that game shows that if people want to play zone against us, that’s not going to work anymore.”

 

The victory against the Minutemaids had the most drama in it for the Indians, who built an early 16-4 lead only to see Lewis County crawl back into it.

 

Bartlett secured the one-point victory with a late bucket by Bartlett. Reep finished with 15 points in that contest, while Humble also reached double-digits with 10 points.

 

“We get three wins in a week and it’s hard to complain about that,” Pierson said. “That was a big one down in Lewis County. It’s exciting that we are playing halfway decent and executing some things finally. First half of the year, we really didn’t do much of that.

 

“This is a great group of girls and they are working hard to get better and I think we will be by the time sectionals start.”

 

Following tonight’s game against East Fairmont, the Indians return home for a Thursday game against Elkins.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Gabby Reep going in for a layup, while the bottom one features Hannah Bartlett defending a Nicholas County player. Photos by Kyle Jenkins for www.benqueenphotography.com