Young, upbeat Bellarmine squad collects signature win over Emerald Ridge, 60-47

It took the Bellarmine Prep girls basketball team a bit of time to come alive against visiting Emerald Ridge on Friday night, with the Jaguars jumping out to a 17-11 lead after a quarter. But once the Lions got rolling, Bellarmine wouldn’t slow down, pushing the tempo and coming away with a 60-47 win.

There was some trash talking leading up to the game, according to Bellarmine sophomore guard Jada Travis, who scored a game-high 21 points. It made the win that much sweeter.

“We just wanted to silence a lot of that,” she said. “We let our game do the talking.”

It was a statement win for Bellarmine (14-3 overall, 6-2 SPSL 4A), which has put together an impressive campaign but has perhaps lacked a signature win. Beating Emerald Ridge (12-3, 7-1) gives the Lions all sorts of momentum heading into the postseason.

“It was a big win, an important win.” said freshman guard Keiara Curtis, who added 18 points for the Lions, including a clutch 3-pointer as time expired at the end of the third quarter. “It definitely brought our team more together.”

Travis and Curtis combined for 39 points, certainly not playing like underclassmen.

“Age definitely doesn’t matter,” Travis said. “I’m gonna go out there and do my thing.”

Emerald Ridge was paced by senior guard Kali Haizlip’s 17 points. Early on, Emerald Ridge was in control, getting easy shots around the rim. But Bellarmine went into a 2-3 zone, making it more challenging for the Jaguars to get into the lane. Emerald Ridge wasn’t able to consistently make outside shots to force Bellarmine out of its zone and the Lions started to punish the Jaguars in transition.

“Our speed definitely helped a lot, and our endurance, too,” Curtis said.

Both guards said that conditioning is an emphasis in practice from first-year coach Cheryl Bishop.

“We work really hard in practice, so we were able to run the whole game,” Travis said. “(Bishop) is a great coach, she teaches us discipline and everything. And just playing together, playing team ball.”

Sophomore guard Kiara Stone added 11 points for the Lions and junior forward Taylor Teeple scored six. For Emerald Ridge, Maya Barnett added nine points for the Jaguars while twin sister Marecia Barnett chipped in six.

Emerald Ridge is now on a two-game skid after losses to Rogers on Wednesday and Bellarmine on Friday. Outside of two losses to undefeated league champion Sumner, which trounced all of its competition in the 4A SPSL this winter, Bellarmine has been close to flawless, posting a 9-2 record in the month of January (both losses came to Sumner). The Lions head into the postseason with plenty of positive momentum, looking like a young team that’s rounding into form just in time for the playoffs.

“We’re feeding off each win,” Travis said. “It’s been great.”