LEXINGTON— The weather was beautiful on the outside Tuesday night. On the inside, however, Shayla Fields and the Salisbury girls basketball team were definitely under the weather.
Fields, Salisbury’s sensational freshman, had one of her worst games of the year, going 7-of-22 from the field in a 72-45 Central Carolina Conference loss at Central Davidson.
There was a reason. Fields was sick.
“We’ve been on her to take some medicine,” said coach Jennifer Shoaf. “She says she doesn’t like to take medicine.”
Usually, Fields is bad medicine to her opponents. But Central Davidson coach Kevin Hudson didn’t seem intimidated at all, even after she lit his team up in the first meeting for 27 points. He opened in a man-to-man defense.
“It really surprised me,” said Shoaf. “It surprised her. She got frustrated.”
Especially in the first half when the feisty little Spartan guards stole pass after pass from Fields and her teammates. Central led 20-7 after one quarter and 42-16 at halftime.
Smurfs Brittany Bivens, a lefty, and Kelli Proctor combined for 22 first-half points.
“The shots they were making from up top ... we were all over them,” sighed Shoaf.
Salisbury (3-6, 5-13) suffered from its usual apathy. Little aggressiveness and an unwillingness to aim the ball at the basket, even though the Hornet coach was practically pleading each trip downcourt.
“I literally have to beg them to shoot,” she said.
That hurt because Central was blanketing and harassing Fields, who was averaging 19.4 coming in. She finished with 16, but only nine came in the first three quarters.
“We watched tape and made some adjustments on her,” said Hudson, whose team improved to 4-5 and 8-10, good for fourth place and a leg up on the final playoff spot. “When she was on the floor, we prepared for where she would be.”
“Shayla wasn’t herself,” said Shoaf, “and they played good defense on her.”
The Hornets finally took their coach’s advice in the fourth quarter and began hoisting up some shots. It was far too late to win the game but it was a good sign, nonetheless.
It was a completely different team in the fourth when Central fell back into a zone. Sophomore Ashton Hanrahan scored eight points in the quarter on two 3-pointers and a 15-footer. Fields scored seven and Jamie Seay pitched in with five of her 10.
“We just waited a little too late to do anything,” Shoaf said. “But we have to focus on the younger kids now and get them more experience.
There will be no playoffs for the Hornets.
“If there was any hope, this was it,” Shoaf said.
SALISBURY (45) — Fields 16, Seay 10, Hanrahan 8, Connor 5, Wingerson 3, Edwards 3, Hawthorne, Wilson, Charleston.
C. DAVIDSON (72) — Proctor 17, Miller 16, Bivens 11, Miller 11, Brawley 7, Taylor 5, Belk 2, White 23, Shuman 1.
Salisbury 7 9 9 20 — 45
C. Davidson 20 22 11 19 — 72
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