By Bart Moss / For the FCT

R.A. Hubbard’s speed and quickness put a damper on the Belgreen Lady Bulldogs return to the Northwest Regionals in Hanceville Thursday, winning 51-23. The athleticism of the Chiefs put a lot of full court pressure on the Bulldog guards and never let Belgreen get good looks at the basket all evening.

“We’ve faced some good pressure teams this season,” said Belgreen Coach Chad Green.  “But we haven’t faced that type of speed and quickness, and it gave us problems.”

The Bulldogs turned the ball over 20 times and shot just 15 percent from the field.

“We knew it was going to be tough getting good outside shot, but we thought we could get the ball inside,” said Green.  “We just couldn’t finish.”

The Chiefs also outrebounded the Bulldogs 60-30.

Green is still proud of where his team has come from this year.

“We have improved all season long,” said Green.  “We were not very good at the start of the year, but we kept improving and kept working hard. We were able to win our area tournament and our subregion game, so I would say we ended the season successfully.”

Green also pointed to the future of the program. “We have a lot of very young girls and very talented girls.  If they keep working and keep improving we will be back here again, maybe with a different result.”

Hubbard led Belgreen 12-6 at the end of the first quarter and 18-10 at the half. The Bulldogs had only made three field-goals at that time – all from senior Allyson Bragwell. The Chiefs put the game out of reach in the third quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 14-4 to take a 32-14 lead into the final period of play.

No Bulldog got into double figures scoring, but Bragwell led the way with nine points. She was followed by Gabbie Moore with five points. Johanna Oliver had four points, Katie Dempsey had three points and Shellie Barber finished with one point.

Belgreen finished the season with an 18-10 record.