Gallery by Tina Laney
Oak Hill – Every basketball coach preaches defense in the postseason.
Tuesday night proved why Greenbrier West head coach Mark Agee is chief among those leaders that advocate creating havoc for the opposing team.
Using a relentless half-court press, the Cavaliers overwhelmed a young Meadow Bridge team, 70-23, in the opening game of Class A Region 3, Section 2 play.
“I thought our pressure worked very good. We got the steals that we needed,” Agee said. “We still have to get better capitalizing on those steals, but as a team we moved the ball very well. We found the open person and made those shots. All three of my freshman stepped it up tonight and that is what I have been hoping for since the beginning of the year.”
Greenbrier West took a quick 4-0 lead and never trailed in the contest. A 3-pointer from Kiersten Rozell trimmed the lead to one before defensive pressure and offensive rebounding helped the Cavaliers run away and hide.
Two stickbacks from Meagan Poticher and a free throw from Abigail Thomas ignited an 11-0 run to end the first quarter.
Poticher opened the second quarter with an easy bucket off an inbound play. Ava Barclay scored on a run-out prior to a steal up top by Maddie Fields who raced in for another layup.
“I haven’t looked yet, but I would say (Maddie) had the most steals tonight,” Agee said. “She has those long arms and she uses them to her advantage. She throws in her points as well.”
A steal and coast-to-coast drive from Barclay made it a 23-3 game with 6:25 to play until halftime.
“Congratulations to Greenbrier West. They had a good game plan tonight. It seemed like they were a step ahead of us,” veteran Meadow Bridge head coach Steve Taylor said. “We thought we were better than that tonight. There is still stuff that this young bunch needs to learn. (Greenbrier West) played some good defense and we forced the ball a little bit. On top of that, we didn’t make any shots either.”
When the halftime horn sounded, the Cavaliers were up 34-8 and in full control.
Part of West’s success on defense came as a result of a recent change by Agee.
“We have had a habit of giving up too many easy layups off our full-court press. This (half-court press) has seemed to work out better the last few games. So we kinda stuck with it,” Agee explained.
The Cavaliers iced the game in the third quarter by attacking the paint. Thomas was a one-woman wrecking crew, scoring 12 of her game-high 17 points in the third stanza.
“Abigail has really brought it on here in the last few games. We have been working on when she gets the ball, taking it up,” Agee said. “I think (after) tonight she realizes when she is in there and she takes it up, she can score some points. I think that will give her the confidence that she needs going forward.”
Thomas finished with 10 rebounds for a double-double, along with Poticher who scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds.
“What I like about Megan is I can pull her aside and tell her something, then she will go out and fix it,” Agee said. “She rebounded the ball really well and made good decisions with the basketball.”
Fields, Raelyn Palmer and Preslee Treadway all scored eight points apiece for the Cavaliers.
Amber Stickler led the Wildcats with 11 points and Rozell added six.
“We are young and we got a little frustrated. That is a credit to their defense. We have no juniors or seniors out there, so we are hoping they will learn from this,” Taylor said.
In the nightcap, No. 1 seed Webster County rolled past Richwood 83-16.
All-stater Sydney Baird scored 29 points to lead the Highlanders, while Ava Durham scored 18 points and Holly Perrine added 10.
Thursday night Greenbrier West and Webster County will meet for the sectional championship.
Both teams have already secured a spot in one of next Wednesday’s regional co-final games. The sectional winner will earn the right to host the regional game, while the loser will have to pick up a road win to advance to the state tournament.
“It should be a good test of how we have progressed through the season. This game will help us know where we are as a team,” Agee said.
MB: 3 5 8 7 – 23
GW: 15 19 22 14 – 70
Meadow Bridge
Charity Reichard 2, Amber Stickler 11, Sierra Simmons 4, Kiersten Rozell 6.
Greenbrier West
Megan Poticher 15, Ava Barclay 7, Brooke Nutter 4, Raelyn Palmer 8, Maddie Fields 8, Abigail Thomas 17, Preslee Treadway 8, Haylee Ward 3.
3-pointers – MB: 4 (Rozell, Stickler 2, Simmons); GW: 3 (Fields, Treadway, Ward).
R: 2 0 6 8 – 16
WC: 32 16 17 18 – 83
Richwood
Baylee Jarrett 2, Carlee Dillard 6, Addison Dudley 5, Chloe Cox 3.
Webster County
Hannah Wayne 6, Jalynn Robinson 2, Holly Perrine 10, Brennan McCormick 4, Josie Mathes 2, Madison Hamrick 2, Hayden Funk 6, Ava Durham 18, Hannah Curtis 4, Sydney Baird 29.
3-pointers: R: 2 (Dillard, Dudley); WC: 6 (Baird 3, Perrine 3).
