Gallery by Chad Foreman
Charmco – Last Friday night, Greenbrier West won its first sectional title since 2002.
Thursday night the Cavaliers were back inside John C. Estep Gymnasium seeking another landmark victory.
Riding a 29-point performance from Preslee Treadway, Greenbrier West beat River View 61-52 to earn its first trip to the girls state tournament since 1987.
“I am speechless really. I really am. These girls deserve everything they got tonight. They have worked hard all season,” Greenbrier West head coach Mark Agee said. “This is the best season that I have had in the five seasons that I have been here. They played as a team and they have the best chemistry of any team that I have coached in the last 15 years.”
“This is something they will be able to tell their kids and their kids will tell their grandkids,” Agee went on to say. “It is just an awesome thing and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
With the win, Greenbrier West earned the No. 4 seed in the state tournament.
The Cavaliers with play No. 5 seed Webster County at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday morning inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
Seniors Ava Barclay and Meagan Poticher were all smiles after the final horn sounded.
“We are ecstatic, especially me and Meagan. We wanted to come out here, win and go to Charleston,” Barclay said. “It hadn’t happened since 1987. We wanted to be the seniors that were able to do it and we got the job done.”
Poticher is no stranger to the Charleston Coliseum having led the Cavaliers to the state volleyball tournament.
“This feels incredible. We have built on this program for four years,” Poticher said. “Normally we are done by now, but now we are still playing basketball and that is awesome.”
After erasing an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win the sectional title, Greenbrier West found itself in another hole, down six midway through the third quarter to the Raiders.
Adding to the concern for the home crowd was the fact that Treadway was on the bench with four fouls.
While many may have been concerned, Treadway wasn’t amongst them.
“I knew my team could do it, so it was no problem. When I am on the bench, I am just as fired up as I am on the court,” Treadway said. “After halftime we knew we wanted this game, so we went out there and fought for it.”
Having struggled all night to score, the Cavaliers turned up the pressure and their defense changed the complexion of the game in less than two minutes.
During that key stretch, Abigail Thomas scored six points and had a steal that she pitched forward to Barclay for another score.
When the third quarter horn sounded, the “Cardiac Cavaliers” had turned a five-point deficit into a 36-34 lead.
“We weren’t playing quite as a aggressive because everybody was getting in foul trouble,” Barclay said. “We knew that we could come back if we played hard. We put our pressure back on and finally started scoring.”
For Agee, the game changing stretch was simple to explain.
“They worked together as a team. When one sits, the others pick it up and vice versa,” Agee said. “Preslee came back in that fourth quarter and she was a game changer. I don’t have enough good things to say about all of them. It was a team effort. They play as a team and they won as a team.”
Thomas finished with six points on the night, but the points she scored and the plays she made in the third period could not have come at a better time.
“Brilee (Redden) did really, really good job subbing in for Preslee as the other guard and Abigail did great filling in for Preslee in the post and rebounding hard,” Barclay said. “She really stepped it up filling her role.”
“As you can see, we don’t have just one outstanding person and everybody plays as a team,” Agee said. “We were up, then we were down and we came back up. I knew it was going to be a dogfight from the beginning. I am so excited for these girls.”
River View tied the game twice in the fourth period with the last tie coming with 5:24 to play in the contest.
Over the next four minutes, the Raiders could not stop Treadway who dominated the game down the stretch.
“I don’t like to complain about officials, but they turned the game late in the third quarter,” River View head coach Gehrig Justice said. “The charge they called on (Haylie Payne) was a huge call. (Trista Lester) got beat up a couple of times on the sideline with no call. That I thought mentally took us out of the game. (Payne) played most of the second half with four fouls. (Trista) played all of the fourth quarter with four fouls. That stopped us from doing anything with (Treadway).”
While he wasn’t pleased with some calls, Justice pointed to Treadway’s play as the total difference maker Thursday.
“Hats off to (Treadway). Down the stretch there, she made five or six key baskets. I just talked to our girls. We didn’t lose, (Treadway) won it,” Justice said. “Even at that, when the game was down to four, we went to hack-a-Shaq and (Barclay) made her fouls shots.”
Over a a 90-second span, the sophomore sensation scored seven straight points to give West a 47-40 lead with just under four minutes to play.
“I think the fourth quarter is when our team realizes, hey, lets pick it up. In that fourth quarter we were all fired up and ready to play together as a team and we went into the battle,” Treadway said. “With four fouls, I usually get a little timid and back off, but today I knew it was a big game. I knew I had to go in there and fight as hard as I could. In the huddle we just kept saying, don’t give up, don’t give up. We didn’t get up.”
Treadway scored the next six points for West, but each time she scored, River View answered with a big bucket to keep the game within striking distance.
After scores from Payne and Lester cut an eight-point lead in half, the Raiders were forced to fouls as the clock ticked inside 40 seconds.
Barclay stepped in and hit five of her six free throws to seal the historic win.
“I think that we believe in each other more than any team that I have ever played on,” Poticher said. “Our strength is with each other. No matter how far we get down, we know that we can fight back and we trust each other.”
RV: 14 13 7 18 – 52
GW: 11 11 14 25 – 61
River View
Trista Lester 22, Kaylee Blankenship 5, Haylie Payne 4, Katie Bailey 8, Abigail Pruitt 13. Totals: 18 15-25 52.
Greenbrier West
Meagan Poticher 4, Ava Barclay 10, Maddie Fields 7, Preslee Treadway 29, Abigail Thomas 6, Brilee Redden 5. Totals: 21 17-28 61.
