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Belpre aiming for another sectional title

BELPRE — Out to notch a second straight Division IV sectional championship today, Belpre’s girls basketball team will face a TVC foe that it already has two wins over this season in Southern at 2:45 p.m. at Meigs High School in Pomeroy.

The Golden Eagles own a 15-7 record and third seed in the Southeast District, while the 10-10 Tornadoes, seeded sixth, sacked Franklin Furnace Green 66-28 in an opening-round tournament game Wednesday.

“They’re disciplined in their halfcourt offense,” said Belpre head coach Chris Murray of Southern, which dropped a pair of identical 54-43 regular-season decisions to his squad.

“Our goal is always that we want to run and push the tempo.

“But Southern does a good job in a lot of areas in terms of how they play us. They want to force outside shots and focus heavily on rebounding. So for us, we want to get some of those offensive boards and defensive boards, and make some of their younger guards uncomfortable with our pressure.”

Murray sees today’s tilt as “a good matchup for us. I think our girls are playing some of their best basketball right now against really good competition. In our non-league schedule, four of the six teams we played are top seeds in their sectional. Our girls played a good schedule, so I think they’re ready for the tournament run.”

For Belpre, “our goal is to get to a district semifinal, win that and see what can happen in a district final,” said Murray.

The core of the Golden Eagles this season has been four seniors who Murray has had with him in his three seasons at the Belpre cage helm. They are 1,000-point scorer in guard Cheyenne Barker along with forward/center Daisy Cowdery, guard/forward Trinidy King and guard Alexandria Williams, who was out injured last year. “Their leadership with our younger girls has been great,” said Murray.

Joining Barker, Cowdery and King in the starting lineup are sophomore guard Sydner Spencer and either freshman guard Abbey LaFatch or freshman guard/forward Kyanna Ray. But Murray will probably use up to 10 players.

For Southern, and “they’re a good team too, throw the record out as they’ve played a tough schedule like us,” said Murray, singling out key Tornado players Faith Teaford, Sierra and Phoenix Cleland, and Josie Cundiff. “We know what they’re going to try and do, and I’m sure they know what to expect from us,” said Murray.

“At this point, it’s really more about matchups for us — what are you putting out on the floor — because I think defensively, we’re pretty good. We can match up with anybody that you put out there, because we’re looking at it from an offensive standpoint. If you go big, we can guard you big, but shoot a little bit too. Anything that gives you an advantage, even if just for a short while, is something to make use of.”

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