By Rich Stevens
The top-seeded Wyoming East Warriors pulled away in the second half of the West Virginia state girls basketball tournament quarterfinals to claim a 62-41 win over No. 8 Tolsia in the first game of the evening session at the Charleston Civic Center on Thursday.
The victory moves the Warriors (21-2), the 2015 tournament runners-up, into the semifinals at 1 p.m. on Friday against the winner of Thursday’s late game between fourth-seeded Sissonville and fifth-seeded Summers County.
“Overall, I was really pleased defensively,” said Wyoming East coach Angie Boninsegna, whose Warriors had nine steals and scored 16 points off turnovers. “(Dena) Jarrells is a really good guard, but we held her down considerably. Offensively, we did a great job with our transition.”
Wyoming East, which lost in overtime to Sissonville in last year’s championship, received a boost on Thursday from 6-foot-4 freshman Emily Saunders with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Gabby Lupardus led the Warriors with 16 points and 12 assists.
Jarrells, a freshman point guard, paced the Rebels (14-12) with 26 points and five assists, but attempted 31 of Tolsia’s 49 shots. She, admittedly, was nervous as Tolsia was making its first state tournament appearance in five years.
“We had a long and winding road this year,” said Tolsia coach Ric Morrone, whose team will return all but one player from its eight-player lineup next season. “The poor start for us dug a hole. When we got the score cut down a bit, East answered every time.”
