Cover photo by @GrantTraylor Herald Dispatch
By Rich Stevens
A 6-foot-3 post player does more than add points, rebounds and blocked shots.
In the case of Gilmer County junior Riley Fitzwater, she also pads teammates’ statistics.
Fitzwater had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocked shots and the second-seeded Titans made a living off the entry pass and open outside baskets in defeating No. 7 Fayetteville 61-42 in the West Virginia Class A state girls basketball tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center.
Fitzwater set the 14-year-old Class A record for blocks owned by Midland Trail’s Jamie Flournoy, who had nine against Gilmer County in 2001. She was one short of matching the all-class record held by Brooke’s Jennifer Kurucz, who had 13 against Huntington in 1984.
“I was actually shocked nine was the most (blocked shots),” said Fitzwater, whose team faces Notre Dame in Friday’s 11:15 a.m. semifinal. “I didn’t realize I had 10 until (it was announced).”
Gilmer also had 17 assists, many via the lob pass to Fitzwater, who stands 8 feet from toes to fingertips with her arms outstretched. Fitzwater hasn’t managed to dunk a basketball, or a tennis ball, but she can touch the rim and that’s close enough at the Charleston Civic Center, where her teammates have mastered the art of the lob pass.
“That’s what we say, ‘put it up there and she’ll go get it,’” said Gilmer coach Amy Chapman, who played on the 2001 Gilmer state tournament team that included All-State player Denae Dobbins. “They have great team chemistry. They can read each other very well.”
Kylie Shuff had 17 points and was one of four Titans (23-2) with at least three assists. Gilmer County shot 51 percent (25-49) with Fitzwater (10-13), Shuff (7-11) and Mackenzie Huff (4-7) combining for 67.7 percent.
For Fayetteville’s part, the Pirates (19-5) tried every strategy to deny Fitzwater the ball, to no avail. Some of the lobs were just out of the reach of post players Larissa Roles, Hannah Franklin and Caroline Fenton, but barely.
“She’s so much taller,” said Roles, who is giving up 11 inches, but managed seven rebounds. “I jumped as high as I could and could maybe made it to her elbow.”
Fayetteville coach John Mark Kincaid was displeased with his team’s seeding, but challenged his team to go at Fitzwater with the hopes of getting her in foul trouble. Fitzwater finished with two fouls.
“She was a handful,” he said. “She’s tall, can move, has soft hands. We tried to front her, pick her up early, tried to go at her, but we couldn’t get a friendly call or two.
“We challenged our kids. She wouldn’t have set that record if we didn’t challenge her. We did what we could to go after her.”
Fayetteville was led by Kendall Malay with 12 points and three Pirates – Franklin, Roles and Fenton – had seven rebounds apiece as Fayetteville had three more rebounds than Gilmer.
The Pirates were making their third consecutive appearance at the state tournament, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals for the third straight year.
Kincaid wasn’t happy with his team’s seeding. The Pirates lost four times this season – twice to Class A Charleston Catholic, once to single-A Midland Trail and once to Class AAA Greenbrier East.
None of their victories have come against state tournament teams, but Kincaid wasn’t sure how to improve the seeding for the state tournament, which has been in place since 2005.
“Not a lot of southern teams get a lot of respect,” Kincaid said. “Northern teams know each other and private schools know each other. The only way you get better seeding is to take it from the coaches. I don’t trust them (coaches). I just don’t trust them.”
