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It’s got to be frustrating to have been quarantined multiple times and played zero games, while the other side had three games under its belt.

It’s got to be frustrating to be a rebuilding program and who do the basketball gods give you as a season-opening opponent? A vaunted program, of course.   

When you look at all the elements around the West Forsyth-at-Davie varsity girls basketball matchup on Jan. 16, it wasn’t a surprise that Lindsey Adams’ debut as Davie’s coach was a lopsided loss. The Titans were too big, too experienced and too talented for the work-in-progress War Eagles, who fell 73-32.

The Titans, who improved to 2-0 in the Central Piedmont Conference, have won three of four. Look at their records the past five years: 20-7, 24-6, 24-4, 27-3 and 15-11. They won the 4-A state championship in 2018-19, and they won 110 of 141 games from 2015-16 through 2019-20.

By contrast, the War Eagles went 16-11, 6-17, 3-21, 6-19 and 0-25 the past five years. That added up to 31-93. Last season they lost by 44, 37 and 51 to the Titans.

But the War Eagles did come out playing tenacious defense against West. The Titans missed their first five shots, including four from 3-point range. It was still 0-0 at the 4:30 mark of the first quarter. West finally got on the board at 4:28.

Davie, though, couldn’t take advantage of its effective defense/rebounding during that stretch because it missed its first 10 shots. Davie’s first basket came with 2:30 left in the first, cutting West’s lead to 7-2.

But once West got going, it steamrolled. The margins were 18-3 and 40-18 after the first two quarters. The gap was 59-24 after the third.

Adams is building Davie inch by inch, and everything in Year One is going to revolve around aggressive defense.

“Defense is what our focus is,” she said. “We want to up the pace on defense and force turnovers. We did that in the first quarter. But after a couple lapses on defense, we lost our focus.”

And then: “We’ve been quarantined three times, so our girls were gassed in the second half. They were very tired. That’s just the times we’re in right now with COVID and everything.”

Keelyn Oakes hit three 3s to score a team-high nine points. Elizabeth Johnson had seven and London Dirks six. Olivia Tatum and Somer Johnson had three each. Malayka Rankin and Layla Caldwell had two apiece.