Gallery by Tina Laney
Fairlea – The strategy for Greenbrier East Tuesday night was fairly simple. Pack the defense in the paint and make the game ugly.
Everything went according to plan for the Spartans.
Forcing Princeton out of its comfort zone and doing just enough offensively, Greenbrier East grabbed a 41-26 win over its sectional rival.
“I changed our starting lineup because I knew they struggled shooting the ball. We just packed it in and let them shoot,” Greenbrier East East head coach and current West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said. “We played about as ugly as you can get, I will give you that, but they really struggled shooting the ball. When you hold them to 26 points, you can look bad and still win.”
Greenbrier East started quick taking a 7-0 lead sparked by 3-pointers from Caroline Dotson and Kennedy Stewart.
After going nearly five minutes without scoring, the Tigers ran off five straight thanks to a bucket from Kylie Conner and a long ball from Asia Collins.
A triple from Reagan Southers, who led Princeton with ten points, tied the game at 8-8, but that was the closest the visitors came to leading the game all night.
Mackenna McClure beat the first quarter buzzer with a 3-pointer and the home team never trailed again.
A jumper from the elbow from Maddie Stull made it a 13-11 game, but unfortunately for Princeton it was its last field goal of the half.
A triple from McClure was followed by a steal and coast-to-coast drive from Kennedy Stewart giving the Spartans a seven-point advantage midway through the second period.
When older sister Cadence Stewart drilled a deep 3-pointer to beat the halftime horn, East had its biggest lead of the first half at 21-12.
“I saw a team tonight that struggled to make shots. I saw a team that wasn’t in the proper position and that falls on me,” Princeton head coach Matt Smith said. “I saw a team that lost its confidence and that falls directly on me.”
Even through the struggles of the first half, it was the two buzzer beaters that really stretched the game early.
“One was a good shot and the other was a semi-luck shot,” Justice said. “They have a nice team that is scrappy and they are coached well. We did the right thing tonight. I told them it would be ugly, but we were going to win the game. That was what we had to do to win the game.”
Kalyn Davis hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter to break a nearly eight-minute field goal drought, but it failed to snap the struggles for the Tigers.
The next Princeton basket did not come until there was 6:26 to play in the contest. For the game, the Tigers made just eight of 45 attempts from the floor.
“We have known for the three years we have been here that we are not going to shoot extremely well. Tonight was rough,” Smith said. “I think we could have used the high post more. The high post was open. We got a couple of looks, but then we started to settle when shots didn’t go. We were stagnant and our ball movement was stagnant.”
Although the Tigers struggled on offense, defensively the visitors were on point all night, frustrating the Spartans who had just 25 points after three quarters.
“If you tell me that we hold them to 41 points, then I like my chances. Defensively, we were fine,” Smith said. “We just struggled offensively and we will fix that. We have a good basketball team and as coaches, we believe in these girls.”
Cadence Stewart sealed the game in the final quarter scoring 13 of her game-high 17 points. She also had nine rebounds on the night.
Dotson finished the night with nine points and seven rebounds including a second 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 13 points with just over four minutes to play.
“Caroline played well tonight and I thought Hannah (Fuller), who was kind of thrust into a tough situation, did OK for us,” Justice said. “We have a lot of young kids and we were a little sloppy tonight. We have a long way to go.”
While the game wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, it was an important sectional win for the Spartans.
“That is exactly how I look at it. They are a nice team,” Justice said. “We didn’t let them do what they needed to do. We didn’t let them stretch the game out, get three on two, or let them get the ball inside to their bigs.”
Smith pointed to himself in regards to the loss, but he also pointed out, it is only game five of the regular season.
“Tonight falls on me. I will be better and I will get them better prepared,” Smith said. “Closer to the end of the year, hopefully we will put forth a better effort when they come to see us.”
P: 8 4 3 11 – 26
GE: 11 10 4 16 – 41
Princeton
Kylie Conner 2, Maddie Stull 5, Autumn Bane 2, Kalyn Davis 3, Asia Collins 3, Reagan Southers 10, Kalee Wright 1. Totals: 8 4-10 26.
Greenbrier East
Cadence Stewart 17, Caroline Dotson 9, Kennedy Stewart 5, Mackenna McClure 6, Alizabeth Wooding 2, Hannah Fuller 2. Totals: 12 10-11 41.
3-pointers – P: 5 (Davis, Collins, Southers 3); GE: 7 (Cadence Stewart 2, McClure 2, Dotson 2, Kennedy Stewart).