Bays, Wilburn leads Highlanders to decisive win
By Robyn Rison
The Herald-Dispatch
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CHARLESTON -- After a terribly slow start, the top-ranked Huntington High girls basketball team settled down and cruised to a 61-30 win over Elkins on Wednesday in the first round of the Class AAA West Virginia State Tournament.
The Highlanders (22-2) advance to Friday's semifinals against East Fairmont - a first-round winner versus Woodrow Wilson. That game will be at 5:30 p.m.
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Huntington struggled in all facets in the first quarter against Elkins (12-12). They trailed 13-7 after one quarter and had brief memories of last year's upset loss to George Washington in the first round.
Early injuries to Nicole Eubank and Taylor Wheeler didn't help, either. Wheeler returned later in the first half, but Eubank did not.
"I feel like we came in the game thinking we were not going to show Elkins respect," said Huntington coach Lonnie Lucas. "We hadn't seen them. We made some adjustments at the half and just had to kick our 'D' up to get the kind of game we wanted."
The only Highlander to get any shots to fall early was freshman post player Whitney Bays. She scored the team's first six points and went on to notch game-highs of 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Senior LaQuita Wilburn added 14 points.
Bays said defense was the key.
"It was a slow start, but we changed our defense in the second half and came out ready to play," she said. "Our shots weren't falling early, but in the second half we just hustled more."
As the Highlanders' defensive intensity began to pick up in the second quarter, the game slowly began to turn in their favor. Huntington trailed by as much as 16-7 in the quarter, but outscored the Tigers 13-1 during the final five minutes of the half. That gave Huntington a 20-17 lead at the half.
"We never thought that we couldn't come back," Lucas said. "It was mostly a matter of getting together. When you lose your number one guard to an injury and replace her with your number two and then she gets injuried, it's tough. I'm proud of the way we hung together. We were fortunate to be up three at the half."
The second half was an entirely different story. Simply put, the Highlanders dominated. The more aggressive, amped-up defense forced turnover after turnover and allowed just 13 second-half points.
At the same time, many of those turnovers resulted in open layups and easy points at the other end. With a 40-22 lead after three quarters the only thing that remained in question was exactly what Huntington's winning margin would be.
"We just had to step up," said Wheeler, a senior. "We're not a team that usually gets down a lot, so we just had to step up."
The Highlanders shot 44 percent on 22 of 50 attempts. The 50 attempts were much lower than the 65-70 the Highlanders typically take. Lucas said that was a factor early because his team wasn't playing it's style of game.
Huntington won the rebounding battle, 46-25, and got 22 second-chance points while Elkins managed just three. Another second-half key for the Highlanders was a significant decrease in turnovers. Huntington had 12 miscues in the first half and just two in the second.
Elkins was led by Megan Warner with 11 points. Warner said the Tigers were a little nervous to be playing the state's top-ranked team.
Veteran Elkins coach Nancy Lewis said it was just a tale of two halves.
"In the first half the girls played excellent, especially on defense," she said. "In the second half we just didn't seem to be able to score. That was the difference in the ball game."
Huntington's Nicole Madison drives the lane against an Elkins defender Wednesday, March 7, 2007, during the WVSSAC State Semi-final at the Charleston Civic Center. The Lady Highlanders advanced with a 61-30 win over the Lady Tigers.
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