White Sulphur Springs – Friday at The Greenbrier, eight teams – four girls and four boys – entered Colonial Hall with the intent of notching a win to move into the championship game at The Battle for the Springhouse.
When the final horn sounded, the Greenbrier East and Charleston Catholic girls, along with the Morgantown and Spring Mills boys were on the positive side of the scoreboard in their respective clashes.
The AAA No. 2 Lady Spartans and the AA No. 5 Lady Irish will clash in the girls championship at 7 p.m. Saturday, while the AAAA No. 1 Cardinals will battle AAAA No. 2 Morgantown in the boys championship game Saturday at 5 p.m. The battle between the two big schools is a rematch of the Class AAAA state championship game last March, won by the Mohigans.
The ladies from Greenbrier East hit the court Friday night with an undefeated record still looking for statewide respect. While the Spartans did not play angry, they did play with a high rate of efficiency on both ends of the floor which doomed Huntington in a 68-36 decision.
“We can do a lot of stuff. We can put pressure on folks. We can change defenses and do a lot of different things,” former West Virginia Governor and current United States Senator Jim Justice said. “These kids have worked really, really hard. We don’t have all of the speed in the world, but they did a nice job tonight.”
With the game tied 2-2, the Spartans started to find the range ahead of their defense taking full control of the contest.
When the first period came to an end, Ava Workman had rattled the Highlanders for nine points, guiding her team to a 19-2 lead.
Greenbrier East sharpshooter Kennedy Stewart then took control of the second quarter by knocking down three triples and scoring 13 points to give the Spartans a insurmountable 41-13 advantage.
Stewart finished with 26 points and reached 1,000 points for career on a corner-3 in the second half.
“She started out a little slow. Her shots were great, but hitting right in the back of the rim,” Justice said. “She is a great shooter, a great kid and everything. She is really up beat. That is the great part about her.
Workman ended the night with 16 points, while Hannah Fuller scored nine. Jada Waller netted seven points and Kayla Waller added six.
Greenbrier East boys basketball head coach Jared Patton knew his team would have its hands full Friday evening when the Spartans battled the top team in AAAA, Spring Mills.
The veteran coach was not mistaken.
Riding the momentum of a 28-0 run in the first half, the Cardinals knocked off the AAA No. 9 ranked Spartans, 60-37.
The Spartans will now play Saturday at 1 p.m. in the consolation game against Virginia Episcopal.
Spring Mills took a quick 2-0 lead before Greenbrier East responded with five straight including an old school 3-point play by Reed McGraw.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, their next score did not come for over 10 minutes.
“One thing we don’t do is back down,” Patton said. “That was the message for today’s game. I thought we played hard. I didn’t see one kid give up. I didn’t see anyone not try their best to make stuff happen.”
“It was a tough start for us,” Patton went on to say. “They hit every shot in the first couple of quarters. We were switching up our defenses and it just didn’t matter. They are a good team of shooters and it showed.”
Caleb Thomas led Spring Mills with 16 points and Xavier Anderson scored 13. Nate Dixon had 12 Â for the Spartans and Brody Hamric scored seven.
“They are just a good team and for us to play at this level is good for us going forward,” Patton said. “We tied the third quarter and that was good for us. We talk about winning every quarter. Once we calmed down a little, we were competing. But still, they are a good team and we were throwing everything we had at them. It just didn’t matter, especially in that first half.”
Charleston Catholic knocked off North Marion in the first game of the day, 56-18. The Huskies entered the tournament as the defending girls division champion.
The Irish led 17-2 after first quarter and were never challenged on the day. Ali Wilcon led Charleston Catholic with 12 points and Molly Messer scored eight.
In the opening game on the boys side of the ledger, defending AAAA state champion and 2024 Battle of the Springhouse champion, Morgantown breezed past Virginia Episcopal, 65-46.
Marcus Goins led the balanced Mohigans with 15 points, while Waylon Colistra had 12 and Marty Johnson added 10.
Saturday Schedule
Boys Consolation game
Greenbrier East vs. Virginia Episcopal, 1 p.m.
Girls Consolation game
Huntington vs. North Marion, 3 p.m.
Boys Championship game
Morgantown vs. Spring Mills, 5 p.m.
Girls Championship game
Charleston Catholic vs. Greenbrier East, 7 p.m.
Spring Mills 60, Greenbrier East 37
SM: 26 16 11 7 – 60
GE: 5 10 11 11 – 37
Spring Mills
Chayse Shipley 12, Akwasi Opoku-Achampong 6, Caleb Thomas 16, Tyler Jones 11, Xavier Anderson 13, Max Anderson 2.
Greenbrier East
Brody Hamric 7, Darius Burns 4, Nate Dixon 12, Sam Hawver 2, Layne Lambert 2, Dylan Wykle 1, Braylen Godfrey 6,
Greenbrier East, 68, Huntington 36
GE: 19 22 16 11 – 68
H: 2 11 9 19 – 36
Greenbrier East
Ava Workman 16, Kennedy Stewart 26, Jada Waller 7, Alexis Stack 2, Kayla Waller 6, Liz Wooding 2, Hannah Fuller 9.
Huntington
Danni Kendrick 2, Alyssa Smith 2, Jayda Garrett 2, Sonya Cunningham, Liz Bohren 4, Lala Sloan 23.
