Faith Christian girls dealt first NCCSA Coastal loss

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 18, 2009 1:46 PM

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Turnovers.

Lack of rebounding.

Missed shots.

All those phases of the basketball game didn't prove fruitful for Faith Christian on Thursday evening. The Conquerors toiled through 24 turnovers, missed 22 field goals and suffered a 33-24 loss against N.C. Christian Schools Association Coastal 2-A foe Bethel Christian.

It was Faith Christian's first loss in four region outings this season.

"We probably didn't have 20 rebounds for the game," said Conquerors head coach Eddie Smith. "Poor rebounding and turnovers has been our Achilles' heel during our season. When we don't turn it over, we're competitive. When we do turn it over, we have a hard time."

The Conquerors (4-4 overall, 3-1 NCCSA Coastal) converted just two field goals during the first 10 minutes against the equally cold-shooting Trojans. The turnovers steadily increased against Bethel's full-court trap and physical man-to-man defense, but Faith Christian somehow trailed just 12-11 at halftime.

The teams battled through two ties and three lead changes in the third quarter.

Bethel (6-4, 5-1) seized the lead for good, 21-19, on Kendall Worthington's steal and layup. Courtney Stroud buried a 3-pointer off Haley Moody's skip-pass assist against Faith Christian's triangle-and-two defense.

The Trojans led 24-21 after three quarters and kept the three-point advantage in the early stages of the final period. Trailing 26-23, the Conquerors committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions.

Moody turned both miscues into layups.

"We did put ourselves in position in the third quarter to make a run at them," said Smith. "But the turnovers started accumulating again, we still weren't rebounding well and they pushed it (the lead) back up again."

Moody and Stroud pumped in 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Trojans. Elizabeth Weeks emerged the Conquerors' top scorer with seven points, followed by guard Charity Spencer with five and Madison Caudle with four. Caudle snared six rebounds.

Faith Christian returns home Jan. 5, 2010 for an NCCSA Coastal contest against Neuse Christian.