Gallery by Heather Belcher
Charleston – With a bigger home crowd than usual and a long-coveted state tournament berth hanging in the balance, Capital girls basketball coaches and players admitted there were some nerves early in the Cougars’ Class AAAA Region 3 co-final against Woodrow Wilson on Wednesday.
But it was nothing an early 15-0 run couldn’t calm.
Capital may have been nervous but certainly didn’t play that way, answering an opening Flying Eagles 3-pointer with 15 straight points. From there, the margin was never less than eight points en route to a 52-38 Cougars victory.
The win sent Capital to the state tournament for the first time since the 2012-2013 season. The Cougars were awarded the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 4 Cabell Midland at 9 p.m. on March 10 at the Charleston Coliseum.
Though the Cougars (15-10) have work to do once there, Wednesday night was a culmination of sorts as the program has steadily climbed from an 0-23 season five years ago to the biggest stage in the sport. As the ladder went up and the net began to come down, coach Michael Cunningham and senior guard Natalyia Sayles both reflected on the moment.
“Emotional,” Cunningham said. “Just my team. They bought into what we were trying to do and I’m happy for them. They got out there, they played hard. Beckley made a run and they were able to withstand that run and they closed it out.”
“It feels amazing,” Sayles added. “If you would have asked the ninth-grade me, I don’t know, I would’ve said we wouldn’t make it but we are here now.”
The Cougars are there largely because of an early explosion from junior point guard Kyra Brown, who poured in 22 of her game-high 24 points in the first half, with 12 of them coming in a second quarter that saw the Cougars grow their lead to as many as 18 points before taking a 35-18 advantage into the break. Sayles added six of her 13 points during the quarter as fellow senior guard Talayah Boxley was relegated to the bench with two fouls.
From there, the Flying Eagles (9-13) hung around until making their move in the fourth quarter. Abby Dillon started the period with a 3-pointer with Josie Cross adding a bucket to quickly bring the margin down to 11 at 42-31. After Boxley scored, Cross and Dillon combined for five more, and after Dillon swished another 3 to make the score 44-36, Cunningham called a timeout.
But with momentum starting to turn, the Cougars refused to bend as Sayles came up with a three-point play on the other end and allowed just two free throws the rest of the way as Capital slowly salted things away.
Ultimately, that first-quarter spurt and Woodrow’s slow start loomed largest. The Flying Eagles committed eight of their 17 turnovers in the opening period and could never fully recover.
“We didn’t do a good job getting out on shooters,” Woodrow coach Brian Nabors said. “They had wide-open looks like they were in the gym in a shooting drill. We didn’t do a good job help side, they were getting to the basket scoring layups, we didn’t block out like we needed to and then transition. We turned the ball over and they got in transition and that’s their game.
“We got down early and we kept fighting and had a chance, just couldn’t make the plays we wanted to make down the stretch. Give credit to Capital. Coach Cunningham has done a magnificent job with that program and they deserve it, man. I wish them nothing but luck.”
Boxley finished with eight points and nine rebounds while Sayles added five steals. Dillon scored 14 points to lead the Flying Eagles with Olivia Ziolkowski adding 10 points. Cross finished with a game-high 12 rebounds to go with six points.