Nation Ford wins two blow-outs, drops close final

The Nation Ford Falcons girls’ basketball team lost to Richland Northeast 29-21 in the finals of the Berkeley Holiday Classic Thursday.

Nation Ford breezed its way to the finals of the Berkeley Holiday Classic with two blowout wins.

Nation Ford opened the tournament with a 68-22 win over May River and then made even quicker work of host Berkeley with a 41-12 win to advance to the finals against a talented Richland Northeast team.

"We have made it a point to work on our defense," said Nation Ford head coach Kate Edwards. "The team has done a good job by buying in."

In both games, every Nation Ford player scored as Kelci Adams led with 18 against May River and Ellona Moulds and Sami Tuipulotu led against Berkeley.

The game looked to be close one after the opening quarter with the Falcons leading 9-6, but Nation Ford started pulling away in the second quarter as Berkeley scored only three points in the quarter and Nation Ford went into the locker room with an 18-9 lead.

Nation Ford did struggle to shoot some in the opening half hitting only five shots compared to just three from Berkeley, which didn’t do much better. The Falcons also struggled with turnovers in the third quarter, but nothing that Berkeley could capitalize on with its stagnate offense.

Opening the fourth quarter leading 27-9, Nation Ford had its best offensive outburst scoring 14 points and holding Berkeley to just 1-of-10 shooting. Nine of Berkeley’s 12 points came on three 3-pointers. Nation Ford shot over 50 percent from the field in the fourth quarter hitting 7-of-13 attempts.

Also in the second half, Berkeley hit just one shot and didn't score that field goal until 2:19 was left in the game. For the game, Berkeley hit just 4-of-24 shots from the field and only a single free throw on eight attempts.

Turning point

While not quite a blow out at the half, Nation Ford held Berkeley scoreless in the third quarter, outscoring its opponent 9-0. Berkeley went 0-6 from the field and didn't get to attempt a foul shot in the third quarter. Nation Ford hit just three of nine shots from the field in the third quarter and also hit three free throws.

Critical

Nation Ford's defense was dominating in both games, especially in the game against Berkeley as the Falcons caused the host team to turn the ball over 26 times. Along with a shutout in the third quarter of the Berkeley game, Nation Ford also shut out May River in the first quarter of the opening game as well.

Star contributions

Tuipulotu and Moulds each had eight points against Berkeley to lead Nation Ford. For the second straight game for the Falcons, everyone got to play and every player scored.

On deck

Nation Ford returns to action this week with a non-region road game at Indian Land before opening Region IV play at Rock Hill Jan. 10. Their first home region game will be Jan. 17 against Northwestern.

Box score

Nation Ford 41, Berkeley 12

Nation Ford 9;9;9;14;-;41

Berkeley 6;3;0;3;-12

Scoring Summary

Nation Ford: Sami Tuipulotu 8, Ellona Moulds 8, Kelci Adams 7, Courtney Wells 4, Sydney Adams 4, Lauryn Butler 4, Chyna Crawford 2, Alexis Clement 2, Makayla Blackwell 2.

Berkeley: Essenes Bryant 3, Genesis Weiters 3, Jamie Gadsden 3, Isis Denmark 2, Nadiya Hayward 1.

3-pointers: Nation Ford 0, Berkeley 3 (Bryant, Weiters, Gadsden).

Team fouls: Nation Ford 6, Berkeley 15.

Records

Nation Ford 9-3, Berkeley 5-4.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Nation Ford wins two blow-outs, drops close final."