High School Sports 03-09-2007

High School Sports

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Summers survives Scott CHARLESTON — Scott’s game plan for the Class AA state tournament quarterfinals was apparent: Get physical with No. 1 seed Summers County.....more>>

Westside success story ends at state tournament CHARLESTON — The final score didn’t really matter to Westside coach Jamie Lusk. more>> Griffith, Cloxton lead Winfield to win CHARLESTON -- Kelsey Griffith scored 17 points and Katie Cloxton had 15 points and 10 assists to lead second-seeded Winfield to an 84-57 win Thursday over No. 7 Westside in the girls Class AA quarterfinals. Defending champion Winfield (19-5) will face No. 3 Ritchie County (19-5) in today's semifinals. ADVERTISEMENT Winfield never trailed against Westside, building a double-digit lead five minutes into the game and going ahead 43-27 at halftime. Westside (15-7), making the first tournament appearance in school history, got no closer in the second half. The teams combined for 41 turnovers. Westside shot 28 percent (18-of-65) from the floor. Nikki Ellis led Westside with 17 points and Erica Cook had 11 points and nine rebounds. RITCHIE COUNTY 56, MAGNOLIA 42: Sam Crouch had 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven steals to lead Ritchie County over Magnolia. No. 3-seeded Ritchie County beat No. 6 Magnolia for the third time this season and advanced to the tournament semifinals for the second straight year. It lost a year ago to Summers County. Ritchie County (19-5) made 21 steals, three shy of the Class AA tournament record set by Summers County against Mullens in 1994. CLAY COUNTY 62, PETERSBURG 41: Cherie Cruickshank scored 15 of her 20 points in the second half and Clay County held Petersburg to 12 points after halftime. Meghan Cole added 15 points and Sierra Carver had 12 for No. 4 Clay County (20-5), which last reached the semifinals in 1990. There were 10 first-half lead changes, the final time when Clay County's Sierra Carver hit a 3-pointer a minute before halftime. Cruickshank scored the first 10 points of the third quarter during a 12-0 run that increased Clay County's lead to 44-29. Whitney Scott had 13 points and Chelsie Turner scored 11 for Petersburg. MORGANTOWN 63, MARTINSBURG 45: Cynthia Fullard scored 14 points and No. 3-seeded Morgantown stormed back from 14 points down Thursday to beat No. 6 Martinsburg 63-45 in the girls Class AAA quarterfinals. Tiaa Ferrebee added 13 points for Morgantown (20-4), the 2005 champion whose last appearance at the Charleston Civic Center was a four-point loss to Parkersburg South in the 2006 title game. Iesha Robinson paced Martinsburg (12-12) with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Dakeea Marshall had 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Shaniece Nunn added 11 points. PARKERSBURG SOUTH 84, NITRO 55: Danielle Floyd scored 16 points, Taylor Phillips added 14 and defending champion Parkersburg South cruised past Nitro. Eleven different players scored for No. 2 Parkersburg South (22-3), which will face No. 3 Morgantown (20-4) in today's semifinals. Parkersburg South led by 10 after one period and by 16 at halftime. Parkersburg South had 24 steals in the game and forced 31 turnovers. Parkersburg South lost four seniors from last year's team that upset Morgantown in the finals. Phillips is seeking her third consecutive championship. She was on Class A champion Parkersburg Catholic's team in 2005. Huntington girls meet upstart East Fairmont in state semifinals CHARLESTON -- Huntington High must shake off injuries and East Fairmont today at the Charleston Civic Center if it is to advance to Saturday's Class AAA girls basketball title game. The top-seeded Lady Highlanders (22-2) will play the No. 5 East Fairmont Bees (18-6) at 5:30 p.m. today in the semifinals of the AAA bracket. The winner advances to Saturday's 7:30 p.m. final against either Parkersburg South (22-3) or No. 3 Morgantown (20-4). ADVERTISEMENT But the Lady Highlanders may be without junior guard Nicole Eubank. The top reserve for Huntington sprained her ankle in the first quarter against Elkins, a 61-30 victory, Thursday. Starting guard Taylor Wheeler also suffered a sprained ankle but played through the pain on Thursday. The Lady Highlanders watched the other quarter final games on Thursday and practiced at George Washington High School. "It's great for us," said Huntington coach Lonnie Lucas, following the win over Elkins. "We planned a fun day, win or lose, but we came up here to win." East Fairmont advanced to today's game with a 64-62 overtime victory against Beckley Woodrow Wilson (20-3), the first state tournament victory in East Fairmont girls' basketball history. Leah Jenkins led the Bees with 16 points on Thursday, and Jenna Wood had 13 points, including a two-point putback at the end of regulation that sent the game to overtime. "They knew what they were doing and how to play Woodrow," Lucas said the Bees. "They were ready to play." Howie McCormick/The Herald-Dispatch Huntington’s Whitney Bays takes a jumper over two Elkins defenders during the Highlanders’ first round win Wednesday night. The Highlanders meet East Fairmont in tonight’s semifinals. Buffalo earns state tournament bid By Ryan Epling For The Charleston Gazette HUNTINGTON — It took Buffalo High School 44 years to make the state tournament after 1961. Now, the Bison will be making its third straight appearance. Junior Adam Scott paced three Buffalo players in double figures with 22 points as the Bison outlasted Wahama 54-47 Thursday night in the Class A Region 7 championship game at Huntington High School. - advertisement - Scott is Buffalo’s only returning starter from last year’s state tournament team. “Everybody knew from the get-go we were going to be small and young,” Scott said. “But we had something else in mind. We wanted to show people how good we got over the course of the season. We were ready to play tonight.” It’s been a season that did not start quite so well for Buffalo. The Bison won the opener against Teays Valley Christian but then dropped the next six games. Buffalo coach Chuck Elkins said his team’s place in the state tournament is a result of its ability to improve as the season progressed. “We started out the year so young. We’ve got freshmen playing, sophomores playing, and it just came together,” Elkins said. “They kept believing and kept working and working and things worked out.” The road to a third straight state tournament appearance was not easy. Buffalo survived sectional play with a one-point win over Huntington St. Joseph before Thursday night’s victory. The Bison jumped to an 11-5 lead midway through the opening quarter, but the White Falcons fought back, reeling off nine straight points over the final 3:13 of the first quarter and first minute of the second to take a 14-11 lead. But Buffalo stormed back and scored the last eight points of the half to take a 25-21 advantage to the locker room. “We’ve been in a lot of tight games this season,” Scott said. “Playing in tight games like that during the regular season gets you ready for this level of play.” Continue 1 | 2