Lindside – Two days after benefitting from Wyoming East’s shooting struggles from the floor, James Monroe found itself in a similar situation.
Having taken 19 more shots than Summers County at one point in the third quarter, the Mavericks had only a one-possession lead to show for it.
But winning the rebound battle aided their causes.
Grabbing 14 offensive rebounds – 32 total on the evening – James Monroe built a late cushion to hold off Summers County 56-47 Thursday night in Lindside.
The rebounding advantage aided James Monroe which won that battle 32-20 while also forcing 18 Summers County turnovers. The Bobcats were able to offset those disadvantages by shooting 45 percent (9 of 20) from the field in the first half and 56 percent in the third quarter but bottomed out in the fourth where they turned the ball over five times and shot 23 percent (3 of 13) from the field.
“They’ve got a really good team and I’m gonna make an excuse this time for us,” Summers County head coach Rick Blevins said. “We were not allowed to practice all week. We have not practiced this week. 
We came in here, we played hard, we lost our legs late and that made a difference. We were playing with them and we just got tired. 
Cheyenne Smith having her go out with that injury, that hurts us too. I mean, she’s our strong kid in the post. She’s a really good rebounder and we just didn’t have her late. 
A lot of things went against us, but I’m happy with how we played. Look, we didn’t give up, we didn’t quit on them. We gave them all they wanted.”
Keying on James Monroe’s top scoring threats in Mya Dunlap and Maggie Boroski, the Lady Bobcats neglected the third member of the ensemble in Ava Dunlap and she took advantage.
Stepping into open shots, the eldest Dunlap sister scored a game-high 20 points on 6 of 13 shooting, canning a trio of open 3s. She was equally potent in both halves, scoring 10 points on each side of the break.
“I don’t know exactly how that happened because we were trying to play man and somehow she kept getting open looks,” Blevins said. “You make the first (shot), you make the second and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be a good night.’ That’s kind of what happened right there. She just was almost unconscious in the first half.”
“She doesn’t take a lot of shots, but once she hit those first couple shots, she’s comfortable with it,” James Monroe head coach Angie Mann said of Ava. “Her dad was behind me the whole time going, ‘No!’ and then she’d make it and (assistant coach) Christina (Dunlap) would be like, ‘Yeah!’ 
I said, ‘She’s making it, let her shoot the ball. Nobody else is wanting to shoot it.'”
Ava Dunlap’s presence was felt early as she made two of her 3s to put the hosts up 10-4 but the Lady Bobcats didn’t appear rusty despite their layoff. They shot 56 percent (5 of 9) from the field in the opening quarter with Abby Persinger netting six points to lead the way.
Despite the scoring of Dunlap, the Mavericks struggled to shake Summers which withstood every surge.
The first came after a Boroski layup pushed the advantage to 22-14 early in the second quarter but the Maverick offense went cold failing to register a point over the following five minutes, allowing Summers to tie the game and eventually trail just 24-22 at the break.
Leading 39-37, late in the third quarter, James Monroe created a buffer. Sisters Ava and Mya netted a pair of two-pointers, pushing the lead to six after three. From there the Lady Bobcats were never able to get within a possession, cutting it to four points with under four minutes to play but four consecutive free throws from Mya Dunlap pushed the advantage back to nine, icing the game.
The win moves the Mavericks to 5-0 in the region with the most important victories coming over Summers Thursday and defending sate champion Wyoming East on Tuesday. It’s a perfect start to the week with other regional foes Midland Trail and Mingo on the schedule for Friday and Saturday, respectively. A perfect 4-0 week would be instrumental in helping the Mavericks secure the top overall seed in the region for postseason play.
“We didn’t do this on purpose as far as playing them all at the same time,” Mann said. “We had to reschedule some games, but it kind of worked out for us. 
I hope we can kind of recoup a little bit tomorrow and be ready. I don’t wanna look too far ahead, but I wanna be ready for Mingo on Saturday. It’s important if we can come away with wins and then have to hit the road and it’s gonna be a different story when we play in their places.”
Mya Dunlap added 18 points for James Monroe while Maggie Boroski netted 11 to go along with 11 rebounds.
Abby Perisnger led Summers with 19 points in the loss.
SC: 12 10 15 10 – 47
JM: 16 8 19 13 – 56
Summers County
Avery Lilly 11, Abby Persinger 19, Cheyenne Smith 2, Hadley Bennett 11, Jaelynn Boone 2, Kaylee Cole 2
James Monroe
Mya Dunlap 18, Maggie Boroski 11, Ava Dunlap 20, Aleigha Hill 5, Kendall Long 2