News Details (Posted: January 2, 2007):

WESTFIELD GIRLS HAMMER TURNOVER-PLAGUED GUERIN

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The Guerin High School girls basketball team is having a long first season.

The Golden Eagles came into their first Hamilton County Tournament with a 1-8 record and averaging just 35 points per game. Through most of the first quarter, however, in Thursday's semifinal, they hung around with Class 4A Westfield.

That's when Westfield's Maggie Bingham struck.

Bingham beat the first-quarter horn with a 3-pointer to give the Shamrocks a 17-8 lead. Westfield used the spark to start a 19-2 run on their way to a convincing 75-34 win. Westfield was scheduled to play Hamilton Southeastern on Friday for the County title.

"Confidence is sometimes a bad thing to play with, and I felt we played a little too confident in the first quarter," Westfield coach Andy Tebbe said. "We tried to make too many passes and played a little too fast. We talked about that in the second quarter, and things slowed down for us."

In that second quarter, the Shamrocks (8-5) blitzed Guerin (1-9) for 29 points. Westfield also took advantage of 26 first-half turnovers. "Turnovers have been our Achilles heel this entire season, and 38 (turnovers for the game) is obviously way too many," Guerin coach Dawn Grinnage said. "I knew when Bingham's shot went up, it was a momentum changer. It opened the game up, and we lost our confidence from that point on. We have to learn to play hard consistently and not wait until we're down 31 points."

The Eagles managed just one field goal in the second quarter, while the Shamrocks bombed away with 3-pointers. Westfield's Nicole Kuznia was 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and finished with a game-high 14 points.

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