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The game couldn’t have started any worse for the Beulah girls basketball team in the 3A area 7 championship game on Wednesday. Beulah faced a double-digit deficit by the end of the first quarter that it could never overcome, losing 46-33 to Dadeville. 

“The start was crazy, but we fought to get back in it,” Beulah head coach Sabrina Milligan said. “If we had made some layups, we would have shocked the world with a great comeback.”

The Bobcats struggled to start the game. It took the first half of the opening quarter for them to get their first steal of the game, which is key since the Bobcats score most of their points in transition. Once they were able to start forcing turnovers, they failed to convert the fast-break opportunities. When they weren’t forcing turnovers, they were turning the ball over themselves, switching momentum they had gained.

“We were just a little nervous,” Milligan said.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats trailed 13-1. The lone point was scored from the free-throw line with 2:15 left in the quarter. 

Offensively, the Bobcats continued to struggle in the second quarter as they finished with just six points. Their first made field goal was scored with 3:26 left in the half. 

Defensively, Beulah was able to make a big impact. They forced turnovers and flustered the Dadeville ball handlers. 

For the first two and a half minutes of the second half, the Bobcats still could not find any type of offensive consistency. That started to change with 5:26 left in the third quarter. The Bobcats were able to continue to force turnovers and finally, the shots started to fall. 

Beulah outscored Dadeville 21-17 in the third quarter and was able to start cutting down the deficit.

With 42.6 seconds left in the third, the deficit was cut to single digits for the first time since the first quarter. Halfway through the final quarter, the deficit was only six. The Bobcats only problem was they ran out of steam, fading down the stretch.