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WATCH LIVE PPV GIRLS STATE SEMIFINALS
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Friday, March 11, 2016
9:30AM Grafton vs. Fairmont Senior
11:15AM Gilmer County vs. Notre Dame
1PM Sissonville vs. Wyoming East
EVENING SESSION
5:30PM Parkersburg South vs. Morgantown
7:15PM Saint Marys vs. Huntington St. Joe
9PM GW vs. Huntington
2016 Girls Tournament Bracket
Morgantown Reclaims Title in Class AAA
By Rich Stevens
The Morgantown High School girls basketball team won its third consecutive West Virginia Class AAA championship on Saturday night, receiving 25 points and nine rebounds from Sydney Holloway in a 61-56 victory over Huntington at the Charleston Civic Center.
The Mohigans (24-1) became the state’s fifth big school program on record to win three straight titles, matching Wheeling (1920-22), George Washington (1979-81), Parkersburg (1987-89) and North Marion (2009-10).
The bulk of Holloway’s points came from the free throw line, where she was 15-of-17 — making four fewer free throws than Huntington attempted.
Huntington’s pressure defense forced 27 Morgantown turnovers, but it also led to 25 fouls. Ericka Budd fouled out, while Lexi Sheffield, Dazha Congleton, Jordyn Dawson and Josslyn Almonte finished with four apiece.
“When you get in a game where somebody goes to the line 40 times, you’re not going to win,” Huntington coach Lonnie Lucas said. “That was the difference in the ballgame.”
Experience likely played a role, considering the Mohigans were winning their third straight championship with only six losses since the 2012-13 season.
Conversely, the Highlanders (25-2) have lost in the championship game for the fourth time since winning the 2000 title, dropping three straight — Morgantown in 2007, Parkersburg South in 2008 and North Marion in 2010.
Morgantown’s Holloway, Paige Poffenberger and Lydia Adrian finished the game with four fouls each, and while the Mohigans shot 21 more free throws, Huntington missed 10 of its 19 attempts from the line.
Congleton had 25 points for Huntington, but missed half of her 16 attempts from the line. Dawson added 19 points. Adrian contributed 15 points for Morgantown.
Gilmer County Comes up TITAN BIG for State Title
By Rich Stevens
The Gilmer County girls basketball team hung around long enough to shake the fear of playing the seven-time defending Class A state champions.
Showing a renewed bounce in their step, the Titans rallied from a nine-point third-quarter deficit to defeat St. Joseph 42-41, ending the Irish’s dominance and giving a public school its first small-school title since Williamstown won it in 2003.
St. Joseph answered its first deficit early in the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run to regain the lead and led by five with 5:59 remaining. However, the Titans (25-2) went on a 6-0 run over the next 5:56, taking a two-point lead on an Emile Jedamski 3-pointer. Gilmer’s Mackenzie Huff and St. Joseph’s Tyesha Taylor traded free throws and Alexis Hall missed a 3-pointer just before the clock expired.
“I don’t know what the right words are,” said Gilmer coach Amy Chapman, who played on the 2001 Titans team that lost to Mercer Christian in the championship game. “I’m really happy for these girls. They never stopped believing, which was important in the second half.”
The Irish (22-3) limited the impact of 6-foot-3 junior Riley Fitzwater, the focal point of Gilmer’s offense who set the single-game blocks record in the quarterfinals and the rebound mark in the semis.
She finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots after a first half with just four points, two rebounds and two blocks.
“I might been a little intimidated by her size, but knew I had a height advantage and when I knew she wasn’t going to block my shot, I felt more comfortable,” Fitzwater said of St. Joseph’s Tyesha Taylor.
Fitzwater had nine rebounds in the second half, establishing herself in the paint. Guard Kylie Shuff had 13 of her points in the second half as Gilmer overcame some jitters.
“I think the pressure got to them (Gilmer),” Chapman said. “We didn’t get our heads up at times (against the press), but we made those adjustments at halftime the kids executed and took care of the pressure. Our kids gained confidence in the second half.”
St. Joseph continued its reliance on the 3-pointer and it cost the Irish.
Six of the Irish’s 14 field goals were 3-pointers and 28 of its 59 overall attempts were from long range. St. Joseph’s also was outrebounded 40-34 as Gilmer saw four players – Fitzwater (11), Shuff (8), Carly Somerville (7) and Jedamski (6) and Huff (5) finish with at least five rebounds each.
“We struggled all week shooting the basketball,” St. Joseph coach Shannon Lewis said. “We went to Tyesha again tonight, but she had a bigtime defender on her and our young kids weren’t hitting their outside shots.”
The victory ended a 12-year stranglehold private schools had on public schools.
Chapman, who played against Mercer Christian in the 2001 championship during its run of four straight titles, wouldn’t address the issue.
However, Shuff did.
“We’ve (Gilmer) grown up together and played basketball together our whole life,”Shuff said. “To beat a team that hasn’t grown up together or played together feels pretty good.”
Taylor had 16 points to lead St. Joseph while Alexis Hall had 11 points, 11 rebounds and six of the Irish’s 15 steals.
Wyoming East Takes 2016 AA Championship
By Rich Stevens
The Wyoming East backcourt makes the Warriors go.
The frontcourt keeps opponents from going anywhere.
Such was the case in the West Virginia Class AA girls state basketball tournament championship on Saturday afternoon when the Warriors charged past Fairmont Senior 54-26 for the school’s first title in its first championship game appearance.
This marks the second consecutive year the Polar Bears (23-5) have come up short, dropping a three-point decision to Sissonville in the 2015 championship.
“Defensively we knew we had to be strong,” said Wyoming East coach Angie Boninsegna, whose team held Fairmont Senior to nine points in the second half. “They were bigger and stronger than us.”
Overall, perhaps, but 6-foot-4 freshman Emily Saunders and 5-7 sophomore Allie Lusk as well as play-making sophomore point guard Gabby Lupardus and 5-10 sophomore wing Kara Sandy were aggressive early and often. Sandy had 14 of her 17 points in the first half for the Warriors (23-2).
Saunders had tournament lows in points (8) and rebounds (9), but altered the game with a tournament personal best of seven blocked shots.
“She does a great job of staying big,” Fairmont Senior coach Corey Hines said. “What you have to learn is to keep going at her. Getting your shot blocked is part of the game.”
Lusk had three of her five rebounds and her only field goal the first two minutes to set the tone while Fairmont Senior’s focus was on Saunders.
“It helps me tremendously (having Saunders on the other side),” Lusk said. “They always look at Emily because she is 6-4. They often underestimate me and I’m able to get rebounds out to Gabby to make plays. It’s definitely an advantage.”
Lupardus concluded a three-game visit to Charleston in steady, if not spectacular, fashion. She finished with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists. More importantly, she didn’t pick up another foul after being whistled for her second with 6:24 left in the second quarter.
Boninsegna considered for “a millisecond” taking Lupardus out, but decided against it.
“I told Gabby if they’re shooting a layup, let them go by,” Boninsegna said. “I knew I needed her on the court for floor leadership. That was crucial for us. If she picks up her third that would’ve changed our whole game.”
Wyoming East received 19 points off the bench, sparked by Sandy. Abby Stoller had 11 points to lead the Polar Bears’ offense, which was stagnant against East’s 2-3 zone. Senior shot 18.4 percent (9-49).
“You have to believe in what you’re doing,” Hines said. “If a team is in a 2-3 zone and you get no ball movement, then you’re relying on your jumpshots too much.”
Lupardus, Sandy and Saunders were named to the All-Tournament team along with Fairmont Senior’s Erica Bowles and Stoller, Grafton’s Siera Gabbert, Sissonville’s Karli Pinkerton and Tolsia’s Dena Jarrells.
Wyoming East had reached the semifinals seven times in its nine tournament trip, but is in just its second under Boninsegna, who just completed her sixth season and will welcome back all but three of the 19 players in the program.
The three East standouts are underclassmen, as are 13 of the other 16 in the school’s program. The three East seniors played one minute prior to the championship game. The rest of the Class AA teams in West Virginia could be looking up at more than just the 6-4 Saunders for the next couple years.
Next week, the Wyoming East boys team will seek its fourth state title beginning with a tournament quarterfinal game against Robert C. Byrd at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Huntington Flexes Muscle on GW in Semifinal
By Rich Stevens
The odds caught up to sixth-seeded George Washington in the West Virginia Class AAA girls state high school basketball tournament on Friday.
The Patriots turned the ball over 36 times, succumbing to the Highlanders’ relentless pressure in a 53-27 semifinal defeat at the Charleston Civic Center.
The victory sends second-seeded Huntington (25-1) into the title game for the first time since 2009 when it faces No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion Morgantown (24-1) at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday. The Highlanders finished as runners-up in three straight state title games (2009-11), falling to Morgantown, Parkersburg South and North Marion.
The one-sided result took a while to transpire, despite the Patriots turning the ball over 18 times in the first half. They trailed by just seven at the break.
“I think we just kept playing,” George Washington head coach Jamie LaMaster said. “Defensively in the first half we did a good job, but it got away from us in the second half.”
Out of those 18 first-half turnovers, Huntington managed 15 points – all but eight of its first-half total. In the second half, the Highlanders forced 21 turnovers and scored 18 points off those. The 36 turnovers was one short of the single-game record held by Logan (2000 vs. Huntington) and Parkersburg South (2014 vs. Hampshire).
Huntington iced the game by outscoring GW 15-4 in the third.
George Washington junior forward Shi Banks had 12 points and 11 rebounds after a 27-point, 19-rebound performance in the quarterfinals against South Charleston.
“The 27 and 19 are pretty high for her,” Huntington coach Lonnie Lucas said. “She’s a good player, but she wasn’t going to get that against us.”
The George Washington backcourt, which had success against the South Charleston guards, weren’t as fortunate against Huntington, which also forced 36 turnovers in the quarterfinals against Buckhannon-Upshur.
“Whenever they press, they’re all over you,” said George Washington guard Jessica Lowen, who had eight rebounds, but with sophomore guard Dee McMillan combined for 25 turnovers. “You get the ball and they’re running at you. It’s hard to look up the floor. They’re long and athletic and fast. You have to know where your people are before you even get the ball.”
The Highlanders lost the rebounding battle 43-33, but finished with 23 steals. In two games, Huntington has forced 72 turnovers and has 49 steals. Its 26 thefts in the quarterfinal tied the single-game tournament record shared by Huntington (2000, vs. Logan) and Parkersburg South (2014, vs. Hampshire).
St. Joseph slips by Saint Marys in Semifinal
By Rich Stevens
St. Marys coach Howard Meeks, for one, wouldn’t mind calling his team’s 47-43 Class A girls state tournament loss to seven-time defending champion St. Joseph a moral victory.
While not using those exact words, Meeks – whose team lost to St. Joseph by a combined 76 points in the 2013 and 2014 title games – certainly intimated as much after the Blue Devils dropped a hard-fought 47-43 decision to the seven-time defending state champion.
St. Joseph (21-3) faces Gilmer County (24-2) for the Class A title at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“We got over the top of the mountain today,” Meeks said. “My girls stepped up and played with the physicality that was out there tonight.”
The mountain Meeks spoke of might have had something to do with his fourth-seeded team coming back from a 17-point deficit with 5:46 left in the third quarter, or beating the tradition-heavy Irish at its own game.
St. Joseph labored through a lackluster fourth period while St. Marys beat the Irish back down the court regularly. The Blue Devils took the lead with four consecutive Jordan Fox free throws with 5:07 remaining. The teams traded baskets until a Tyesha Taylor score with 1:48 left put St. Joseph back on top. Mychelle Johnson added a layup with 30 seconds remaining to extend the lead and Taylor added a free throw with two seconds left to seal it.
“They played with so much more energy than we did,” St. Joseph coach Shannon Lewis said. “Since January, we’ve just been going through the motions. We better play with more energy tomorrow.”
St. Marys went on a 21-2 run spearheaded by Fox and Ashley Hall, who combined for 36 points and 23 rebounds.
Meanwhile, the closest game St. Joseph had this season against a West Virginia opponent was against Class AAA Hurricane, a 56-38 victory.
“They outplayed us,” Lewis said. “We weren’t playing with energy, we were playing scared. The pressure got to them.”
Taylor had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead St. Joseph. Whitney Jemison had 10 rebounds for St. Marys, which had 21 turnovers, but also was outrebounded by only four.
“They gave me everything they had,” Meeks said of his team. “I think we proved they got the seeding wrong this time.”
Morgantown Tops Parkersburg South in Semifinal Showdown
Photo by Action Images Click image to go to AI website
By Rich Stevens
In a scrum of loose balls and scrambling basketball players, Morgantown emerged again in a rivalry of West Virginia big school teams two hours apart.
The top-seeded Mohigans continued their march toward a third consecutive title with a 57-49 victory over No. 4 Parkersburg South (21-6) in the semifinals of the Class AAA state girls high school basketball tournament on Friday.
Morgantown (24-1), which has lost just twice since the 2013-14 season, has a championship game date with the winner of the Huntington-George Washington game at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday.
The victory was the seventh in the last eight meetings between the teams. In fact, one of Morgantown’s only two losses the last two seasons came to South. The other one came to South Charleston, which was seeded third but eliminated by George Washington on Thursday.
Parkersburg South coach Scott Stephens doesn’t anticipate as many games with the Mohigans next year when South changes regions when the reclassification takes effect for the 2016-17 school year.
“We’re switching from north to south, so we probably won’t see them as much as we have in the past,” Stephens said. “We’ll have to pick up Huntington, Hurricane, Spring Valley, teams from the southern part of the state that we normally don’t see.”
That could be a welcome change for South, which hasn’t managed to solve the Morgantown defense, averaging 39.5 points in the four meetings this season.
On Friday, the Patriots (21-6) were plagued by mistakes, turning the ball over 24 times, including two key miscues late – the first coming when they were down three with 3:15 left and down four with 1:38 remaining.
Senior Sydney Holloway answered the last turnover with a field goal for a six-point lead, and South didn’t get any closer.
Holloway had 13 points, five rebounds three steals and two assists. Two of the other three Morgantown seniors – Rachel Laskody (14 points) and Paige Poffenberger (14) – combined for 28 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and three assists.
“That’s what happens when you have four seniors on the floor,” White said. “Kids who have been in two championship games. Syd has been in four semifinals, it’s not new to her. She’s traveled the east coast on the AAU circuit. I thought Paige did a good job, coming back and wanting the ball, and Rachel knocking down her free throws.”
Poffenberger played 29 minutes, but left the game momentarily after colliding with South’s Carlie Wilson in a game which she said the “harder fouls” were let go.
“It didn’t feel very good when it first happened, but I wanted to come back in and play harder,” she said.
Anna Hayton had 14 points and six rebounds for South before fouling out with 1:48 remaining.
Wyoming East Edges Sissonville in Semifinals
By Rich Stevens
A golden opportunity slipped through the fingers of the Sissonville High School girls basketball team.
Turns out, it was one that Wyoming East guard Gabby Lupardus didn’t miss.
The sophomore scored six points in the second quarter and the Warriors held off an anticipated Indians’ surge, surviving for a 51-46 win over the defending Class AA champions at the 2016 West Virginia girls high school state basketball tournament on Friday.
Wyoming East, which dropped a one-point decision to Sissonville (24-3) in last year’s semifinals, lost 6-foot-3 forward Emily Saunders with 6:38 left in the second quarter after she picked up her second and third fouls in a span of 53 seconds.
“That was huge,” Sissonville coach Rich Skeen said. “We didn’t attack the way I thought we should. We didn’t attack the rim. They knew they couldn’t get to the rim (with Saunders in the game). When she was out, I don’t know if we settled for open jumpers. Probably should’ve attacked the rim a little bit more.”
In 24 minutes, Saunders managed 18 rebounds and three blocked shots, but it was her 18 rebounds – including seven of Wyoming East’s 24 offensive boards – that helped dictate the outcome.
“She has really controlled the middle for us,” Wyoming East coach Angie Boninsegna said. “And our bench has been incredible. Kara (Sandy) came in and played a huge third quarter for us.”
Sandy had all nine of Wyoming East’s bench points and chipped in four rebounds.
While Sissonville climbed back from an eight-point deficit with 2:59 left to cut it to two in the final 1:05, those key moments of the second quarter loomed large in the senior-dominated Indians’ quest for back-to-back state championships.
Sissonville led 18-14 when Saunders left the game, but scored only five points in the next six minutes and only led 26-23 at halftime.
“We had early foul trouble and our other girls really stepped it up,” Boninsegna said. “I was surprised (Sissonville) didn’t take more advantage of (Saunders being out). We’re an aggressive defense, but that surprised me.”
Sissonville had just 13 field goals and was 6-19 from 3-point range. Its all-time leading scorer, Madison Jones, hit only 1-14 shots.
Boninsegna attributed part of the victory to depth, with Wyoming East using seven players for at least 10 minutes each and none playing the whole game. Sissonville’s Jones, Karli Pinkerton and Brooke Reed didn’t leave the game.
Lupardus finished with 20 points five rebounds and four assists, while Sandy’s nine points was eight more than Sissonville received from its bench.
Pinkerton led Sissonville with 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds and Reed finished with 13 points.
Wyoming East makes its first appearance in the state title game when it faces the winner Fairmont Senior – last year’s runner-up – in the championship game at noon on Saturday.
Gilmer survives as Notre Dame’s last gasp falls short
By Rich Stevens
Notre Dame’s upset run in the West Virginia Class A girls state high school basketball tournament came to an end in the semifinals on Friday, but not without some trepidation for second-seeded Gilmer County.
The Irish battled back from a 10-point deficit in 1:22 through a flurry of missed Gilmer foul shots and made Notre Dame 3-pointers in a 47-44 victory at the Charleston Civic Center.
The Titans (24-2) move to the Class A championship game at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of the other single-A semifinal between top-seeded St. Joseph and No. 4 St. Marys.
Gilmer County upset No. 3 Tucker County (51-29) before getting taken to the wire thanks to a woeful performance from the foul line and timely shooting by Notre Dame.
Coach Amy Chapman’s team was 0-6 from the line in the first half, 10-25 in the second and 3-11 in the final 1:36.
“Scary,” Chapman said. “I think it was all in our head. Mackenzie (Huff) is a 90-percent free throw shooter. I think the pressure got to her a little bit. We shoot free throws a lot better than that. These kids have a lot of confidence.”
Notre Dame (17-8) hit just six of its 28 3-pointers, but all of them came in the fourth quarter.
Clare Cistaro hit two in the final 1:03 and attempted one with 7.1 seconds left that was off the mark when the Irish trailed by two. Gilmer’s Riley Fitzwater was fouled on the ensuing possession and hit one foul shot with six seconds left.
“We had a play set up,” Notre Dame coach Ron Ridgway said. “We were going to go inside to Hannah (Griffith) off a pick and they were double teaming her. We said all along if she wasn’t open we would take the shot.
“Clare had the ball at the top of the key and I’ll take that shot 100 times.”
Fitzwater, the 6-foot-4 pivot who was the hero of Gilmer’s first-round victory with a record-setting 12 blocked shots, tied the mark for single-game tournament rebounds with 23 against Notre Dame. Matewan’s Donna Joplin (1984, vs. Parkersburg Catholic) and Circleville’s Christy Cooper (1987, vs. Clay-Battelle) also had 23 in a game.
Fitzwater had 16 points and seven blocked shots, which also set a tournament record. With one game remaining, Fitzwater has 19 blocked shots, breaking the previous Class A all-tournament record of 15 held by Midland Trail’s Jamie Flournoy from 2001. With two more, Fitzwater will own the all-class record, held by Magnolia’s Allison Rothlisberger, whose 20 came against Wyoming East in 2005.
Guard Kylie Shuff finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds for Gilmer. Eight of her rebounds contributed to Gilmer’s 22 second-chance points. She and Fitzwater had 17 of the Titans’ 21 offensive boards.
Cistaro had 15 points for Notre Dame and Griffith added 14 points and nine rebounds. Huff added 11 points for Gilmer.
Fairmont Senior Checks off Grafton on Way to Championship Game
By Rich Stevens
What is a coach’s best friend when his team is trailing late in a game?
Scoring when the clock is off.
Depth-challenged Grafton had plenty of opportunities, but the seventh-seeded and upset-minded Bearcats watched Fairmont Senior do the same in a 76-58 West Virginia Class AA girls state high school tournament semifinal loss on Friday morning at the Charleston Civic Center.
The third-seeded Polar Bears (23-4) move to the Class AA title game at noon on Saturday where they will face the winner of the Wyoming East-Sissonville semifinal. Fairmont Senior dropped a 50-47 decision to Sissonville in the 2015 championship.
The Bearcats (17-8), who knocked off No. 2 Lincoln in the quarterfinals, were part of a tourney contest that set four free throw and foul records.
“They probably played 13 to 14 people and we’re only used to playing seven,” said Grafton coach Andrew Moore, whose team had five players disqualified on fouls. “It doesn’t matter if four people get four fouls, they have more people to put in.”
There were four team records broken:
n Grafton and Fairmont Senior each made 36 foul shots, setting a record held by St. Marys, which attempted 29 against Tucker County in 2014.
n Grafton attempted 50 foul shots, breaking the record of 37 held by now-defunct Mullens which tried 37 in a 1984 game against Madonna.
n Fairmont Senior was whistled for 35 fouls, beating the former record of 29 shared by Madonna against Tucker County from 1984 and Tucker against St. Marys in 2014.
n Grafton and Fairmont Senior were whistled for 67 fouls, breaking the record held by Tucker County and St. Marys, who combined for 49 foul calls in 2014.
The game lasted more than two hours and was on a reasonable first-half pace with 29 foul calls. There were 38 fouls called in the second half – or 2.4 fouls every minute.
Fairmont Senior coach Corey Hines said he has been part of a game that included that many fouls.
“Yea, it’s called street ball and it was at Windmill Park (in Fairmont) and you call your own fouls,” he said, jokingly. “That’s why you put people in position to be ready. It’s hard to find the runs in the game. People have conversations about the calls, but we found a run in there. We’re all going to have to look at the film and see where it was, but we had a run.”
The run came midway through the third. The Polar Bears clung to a five-point lead at halftime, but scored 19 of the first 25 points of the second half, but only seven from the line. Senior had 11 points from the line in the first half and 25 in the second and 18 of those were in the final 9:38.
Grafton had three players with 13 points apiece – Siera Gabbert, Kaelyn Drainer and Ally Peters – but five fouled out – Gabbert, Drainer, Clark, Ally Peters and Bronlie Jacobs.
Erica Bowles had 20 points, Abby Stoller 11 and Anysa Jordan 10 for Fairmont Senior, which lost two to fouls –Jordan and Zyaira Little.
“Our team’s been working a lot on free throws,” Bowles said. “That’s probably the best we shot all year at the line. It felt like the game was super long.”
Bowles was 8-9 from the line with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Fairmont Senior will seek the school’s second state championship. The first was as a Class AAA program in 1997. The two years prior to last season’s Class AA title game, the Polar Bears reached the semifinals.
GW Knocks off #3 Seed South Charleston
By Rich Stevens
The George Washington game plan was pretty simple: find 6-foot-2 forward Shi Banks early and often and let her guide the sixth-seeded Patriots to the West Virginia Class AAA girls state high school tournament semifinals.
It worked like a charm.
Banks poured in 27 points and added 19 rebounds – 11 on offense — avoiding late foul trouble despite finishing the first half with two fouls, in the Patriots’ 52-47 upset of South Charleston on Thursday.
An upset, to be sure, but the Black Eagles (20-4) – who handed top-seeded Morgantown and second-seeded Huntington their only losses this season – were playing without senior guard Taliah Cashwell, which weakened their backcourt. She tore her anterior cruciate ligament in the Black Eagles’ Mountain State Athletic Conference championship victory over Huntington.
“Without Taliah out there we were able to focus all of our attention on Aaliyah,” said GW guard Dee McMillan, who, along with Jessica Lowen, never left the floor.
The Patriots (17-8), a predominant man-to-man defensive team, came out in a zone to try to keep Dunham from driving. It didn’t hurt that Cashwell was in street clothes.
Dunham and freshman Lavender Ward tried to mitigate the damage at guard. Dunham had 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals and Ward had two 3-pointers in the last 21 seconds. Her final three cut the lead to 50-47 with 14 seconds left, but senior Jessica Lowen hit two free throws to seal the verdict. Ward had a team-high 15 points.
The game was shaping up as a battle of the junior bigs — Banks and South Charleston forward Rhea Smith. Smith picked up her second foul in the second quarter, taking the luster out of the matchup. Smith finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
“She makes us more solid inside,” South Charleston coach Gary Greene said. “She stayed out of foul trouble in the sectional game (a 48-30 South Charleston win).”
The Patriots were the No. 7 seed in the 2012 state tournament when they upset second-seeded South Charleston 48-47 in the quarterfinals.
George Washington looks ahead to Friday’s 9 p.m. semifinal against Huntington, which opened the season with 20 consecutive victories, including 54-41 and 59-41 wins over the Patriots.
The Patriots have played in the semifinals three times since 2005, but haven’t reached the championship game since finishing as runners-up in 1999.
Saint Marys Moves to Semifinals Past Madonna
By Rich Stevens
The St.Marys High School girls basketball team isn’t a stranger to the state tournament semifinals.
More importantly, the Blue Devils aren’t a stranger to nemesis St. Joseph.
Ashley Hall had 15 points and 10 rebounds and St. Marys advanced to the semifinals with a 59-36 victory over Madonna (18-9) on Thursday night at the Charleston Civic Center.
St. Marys’ reward is a tourney date with seven-time defending Class A champion St. Joseph, which has beaten the Blue Devils (23-3) four times in the title game during their current run of championships.
“I apologized to these girls earlier in the week, I had some words come back to me,” St. Marys coach Howard Meeks said. “Maybe we’re all playing for second place. I believe in dreamers and these girls need to have a dream. You think you’re only playing for second place? Then, what are we doing it for?”
St. Marys, which didn’t trail against Madonna in a game that was tied just once, has face St. Joseph four times in the title game, losing 58-44 in 2010, 56-49 in 2011, 73-32 in 2013 and 83-48 in 2014.
The Blue Devils have three Class AA titles to their credit (1985, ’89, ’90) and have reached the semifinals all but one season as a Class A program.
Against the Blue Dons, Jordan Fox had 12 points and Jenna Nichols 10 for St. Marys. Monica Bragg finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead coach Don Ogden’s Blue Dons.
“We had a great season and I couldn’t be prouder,” Ogden said. “Going into playing St. Marys, we knew it would be a tough challenge. They have some quality players. I thought we played real well in the first quarter, but it was a tough battle the rest of the game.”
Huntington St. Joe Defeats Richwood in Quarterfinals
By Rich Stevens
St. Joseph did to Richwood what it has been doing to West Virginia Class A teams almost regularly since winning the first of its current seven consecutive state championships.
The top-seeded Irish ran out to a 13-point lead after the first quarter and never trailed in claiming a 71-24 rout of the Lumberjacks (14-11) in the quarterfinals of the Class A state girls basketball tournament on Thursday at the Charleston Civic Center.
St. Joseph advances to the Class A semifinals against the winner of the St. Marys-Madonna game at 7:”15 p.m. on Friday.
St. Joseph (20-3), which hasn’t lost to a Mountain State program this season, forced 32 turnovers, had 24 steals and scored 32 of its points off turnovers.
Alexis Hall had 20 points and Erinn Kay 12 for coach Shannon Lewis’ team, which won all but three of the seven titles by 10 or more, including a 41-point victory over St. Marys in 2013 and a 34-point verdict against the Blue Devils in 2014.
Hall hit eight of her 12 shot attempts, although the Irish shot only 41.1 percent from the field.
Richwood shot 12.8 percent (6-47) and received nine points and nine rebounds from Erica Lawrence.
Gilmer County Advances Past Fayetteville
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.”
South Downs Martinsburg in AAA Quarterfinal
By Rich Stevens
Katelyn Byrd poured in 24 points and went over the 1,000-point mark for her career and Anna Hayton added 23 to lead fourth-seeded Parkersburg South to a 79-37 rout of No. 5 Martinsburg in the Class AAA girls state basketball tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center.
The Bulldogs (19-5) had 34 turnovers, leading to 47 points for Parkersburg South, which will face Morgantown (23-1) in the 5:30 p.m. semifinals on Friday.
Parkersburg South is seeking its fourth consecutive trip to the title game, with a 2013 championship win over Logan and back-to-back championship game defeats to Morgantown.
This is the first time since that the Patriots will try to do it without star point guard Taryn McCutcheon, the Michigan State recruit who transferred nine weeks ago to East Lansing High (Michigan), in the same city of her college destination.
It’s also the third time in four meetings against the Mohigans this season South will be without McCutcheon. Morgantown is 3-0 in the series this season, winning by an average of 18.3 points. In the first game with McCutcheon running the point, Morgantown won 55-41 on Dec. 17.
“We’ve had some adversity on our team this year and adversity builds character,” South coach Scott Stephens said. “I’m proud of how they pulled together.”
The starting point guard position now belongs to junior Jordan Johnson, whose modest 6.8 average contributes to South’s success, but has helped the Patriots keep their stride at the one position. Johnson had eight assists and only one turnover against Martinsburg.
“I’m really excited,” Johnson said. “I feel like it’s all in our head. I think if we come ready to play I think we’re a good matchup for them.”
Martinsburg was no match for South, leading for the last time with 4:07 left in the first quarter (7-6) before the Patriots reeled off 21 of the next 25 points.
“Once we got to where we could score and our press … we couldn’t press until we started scoring,” said Stephens, whose team forced 21 turnovers in the first half when it led 40-16.
Ciera Hertelendy had 13 points and nine rebounds to lead Martinsburg, which won the rebounding battle 51-43 between teams that combined for 87 missed shots.
“The press bothered us,” said Martinsburg coach Wes Hall, whose team saw an 11-game winning streak come to an abrupt halt. “The turnovers are twice what we average. They are physical and long, they don’t give you any breathing room.”
Now, the Patriots will look ahead to Morgantown, their nemesis from the north that is seeking its third consecutive state championship.
Stephens said his team won’t settle for what occurred in the first three meetings this season.
“We’re going to do some different things,” he said. “But, I’m not going to give that up. You’ll have to come watch and see. We got nothing to lose. They beat us three times this year. We’re tired of playing them. We play them too often. This is an opportunity.”
#6 Class A Notre Dame Knocks Off Favored Tucker County
By Rich Stevens
The sixth-seeded Notre Dame girls basketball team hit 50 percent of its 3-point shot attempts in the first half and didn’t look back in winning its first state tournament game, 51-29 in the Class A quarterfinals on Thursday morning.
Tucker (21-4) scored eight of the first nine points of the game when Elizabeth Nichols, the team’s second-leading scorer, went to the bench with two fouls.
Notre Dame (17-7), which faces the winner of the Fayetteville-Gilmer County game in Friday’s 11:15 a.m. semifinal, followed with an 11-3 run and didn’t trail again.
“We took her out and everything went bad,” Tucker County head coach Jim Ambrose said. “She had a turnover to (Clare) Cistaro and tried to block her shot and got a foul she didn’t need. We’re not a deep team anyway and you’re taking out your best rebounder.”
Nichols had seven rebounds to lead Tucker in just 20 minutes of action.
Hannah Griffith had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame, which won for the first time in four meetings this season against the Mountain Lions.
Another clear advantage for Notre Dame was its 3-point shooting ability. Although the Irish was 0-for-5 from long range in the second half, the damage had been done and was amplified by a Rachel Rogers 3 beyond half court just before the halftime buzzer.
“I said coming in we had one of the best 3-point shooting teams, maybe not in the state, but in Class A. Clare actually had even 3s against Union,” Notre Dame coach Ron Ridgway said.
Tucker had four players with at least five rebounds and won on the boards 40-36. Rogers had eight rebounds and Francesca Steele seven for Notre Dame.
Sissonville Wins Over Summers County on Last Second Clutch Shot
By Rich Stevens
Sissonville senior Madison Jones ended the first night of the West Virginia high school girls state basketball tournament in grand style, hitting a 15-foot jump shot just before the buzzer to lift the defending Class AA champion Indians to a 47-45 victory over Summers County on Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center.
The Indians (24-2), admittedly bitter upon being the No. 4 feed, overcame a night of opportunities to take advantage of one.
After Summers (22-3) turned the ball over for the 17th time in the final minute, the Indians worked the clock to 13.7 seconds before calling a timeout.
Jones, the program’s all-time leading scorer, took possession and stayed in the backcourt until wheeling around teammate Karli Pinkerton. Two Summers defenders inexplicably followed Pinkerton. Jones took advantage, finding an open spot to score her 13th point and give Sissonville its sixth victory in seven state tournament games since 2014.
The Indians, admittedly upset about receiving the No. 4 seed, face top-seeded Wyoming East in the Class AA semifinals at 1 p.m. on Friday. Sissonville beat the Warriors 50-47 in the 2015 championship.
“I think being here … our seventh game in three seasons here … I think experience got us through that,” Sissonville coach Rich Skeen said. “Madison works so hard that she deserves to hit a shot like that.
“We were supposed to clear out after the screen and get out of her way and it looked like we had three Summers County jerseys guarding her and two white jerseys guarding her. She had five people on her. Madison just kept her head.”
Jones called it, “a football play.”
Pinkerton said, “it was a fake handoff. I was just calling for the ball and pretty much I went toward Madison. It was a football play.”
It was a dramatic end to a game that saw two teams combine to hit just 35 of 104 shots. Sissonville, which lost in the title game in 2014 before defeating Wyoming East in overtime last season, was 18-61 led by Pinkerton with 14. Brooke Reed had 10.
Brittney Justice had 18 to lead coach Wayne Ryan’s Bobcats, who won five consecutive state titles from 2007-11.
“I’ll have to watch the film and really break it down, but I think they didn’t switch off and both got caught,” Ryan said of the Summers defense on the game’s final shot. “Every missed shot that we had. In a game like that you can take 25 possessions on offense and 25 on defense, but the one at the end gets magnified.”
#1 Seed Morgantown Girls Soar Past Spring Valley in Quarterfinals
By Rich Stevens
The top-seeded Morgantown High School girls basketball team halted another opponent, holding Spring Valley to 20.5 percent shooting on Wednesday night in rolling to a 55-30 verdict in the Class AAA state tournament quarterfinals at the Charleston Civic Center.
The Mohigans (23-1), who are surrendering just 31.9 points per game this season, allowed the Timberwolves (15-11) only two points in the third quarter, those coming with 18 seconds left.
The victory sends Morgantown to the Class AAA semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of the Thursday’s 11:15 a.m. quarterfinal between No. 4 Parkersburg South and No. 5 Martinsburg.
“When you go long periods of time against a good team without scoring it makes it hard,” Spring Valley coach Larry “Bo” Miller said. “It looks like we were stuck on 15 for a long, long time.”
For more than nine minutes from the second quarter to near the end of the third, Morgantown’s lead ballooned from nine points to 26.
“We haven’t played a lot of zone,” Morgantown coach Jason White said. “We play a predominant man to man. I tried to sell zone to these guys the last two or three weeks. We’re long and we can cover ground pretty quick. I think we recover really well. It’s not easy to attack our zone.”
Morgantown actually had one more turnover than Spring Valley, but scored 12 points off the Timberwolves’ miscues. However, the Mohigans have held 11 opponents to 30 points or fewer in winning all but one of its 24 games this season. Morgantown’s only loss came to South Charleston, the tournament’s No. 3 seed, at the Shootout at the Big House.
Sydney Holloway had 11 points and 11 rebounds and was one of four Morgantown players with three steals. Lydia Adrian had 18 rebounds and Paige Poffenberger grabbed 13 of Morgantown’s 55 boards. Karlee Alderman had 10 of Spring Valley’s 30 rebounds in the loss.
#1 AA Seed Wyoming East Rolls Past Tolsia in Quarterfinals
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.”
Photo: Poca’s The 6th Man
