Gallery by Heather Belcher
Some coaches start the season with a cupcake game, but Jim Boeheim was nowhere to be found Wednesday in Beckley.
Instead, fans were treated to an early season clash of West Virginia girls basketball titans when Woodrow Wilson entertained Parkersburg South.
While there were plenty of signs to reflect the early season play, the game was tight throughout the second half and the came down to a crucial possession with just over a minute to play in the game.
Unfortunately for the home-standing Flying Eagles, the crucial play of the game was made by Gracie Shamblin for the visitors.
With just over one minute to play, Shamblin stepped in the passing lane for a crucial steal and conversion on the other end to break a 44-44 tie. Four free throws down the stretch by Skylar Bosley sealed a huge 50-44 road win for South.
“It wasn’t always a thing of beauty, but it was exciting. We have such great respect for (Woodrow Wilson head) Coach (Brian) Nabors. It is a good game for us regardless of the results (playing) on the road early in the season,” Parkersburg South head coach Ed Davis said. “Nothing exposes what you need to work on like another good team and they are (a good team). They will win a ton of games. Obviously we are happy to get the win, but the there is a lot that we will take to work on from this too.”
“Just too many turnovers the whole game,” Nabors said. “We didn’t take care of the basketball and not reading the defense well. That is the bottom line – we have to take care of the ball. I was proud of the effort of the whole team though. We will continue to get better.”
It was the second straight road win to open the season for South who also won its season opener at Hurricane.
“We could look at this and bemoan the fact that we are the bus all week or we could look at it as an opportunity,” Davis said. “I think they did a really good job of looking at these challenges as opportunities.”
A two-point first quarter lead for South became an 11-point bulge approaching just over a minute before halftime.
Two free throws from Abby Dillon and a basket from Sarah Hopkins trimmed the lead to seven at the break.
Woodrow opened the second half with seven straight points to tie the game before two free throws Bosley gave the Patriots a two-point lead.
The game took a bad turn for Woodrow on the next offensive possession for the Patriots. An entry pass under the basket led to a crash of bodies that sent Woodrow senior guard Adriana Law to the floor with knee injury.
“I thought she made some big plays for us tonight, but went down with the knee injury. She gutted it out and tried to back in and play,” Nabors said. “She played hard and I appreciate the heart and the effort she gave, but it just wasn’t worth putting her back in the game. She wanted to go back in, but I saw her dragging a little bit, so we had to get her out of there.”
Nabors felt it was a loss that clearly hurt his team down the stretch.
“She finally started attacking and made some really good plays offensively,” Nabors said. “She was really helping us on the boards, getting offensive rebounds and put backs. She was another ball handler against that half-court trap.”
Woodrow rebounded to lead by as many as five points in the third quarter, but led by just two with eight minutes to play in the contest.
A jumper from Dillon with 3:09 to play gave Woodrow its last lead at 41-39 before a triple from Hannah Wingrove and a bucket from Shamblin put South up 44-41 with just over two minutes left in the game.
With her team in dire straights, Dillon again came up big with her third long ball of the game.
“(Abby) stepped up in the second half. She is an intelligent basketball player. If she doesn’t perform the way she did in the second half, we may not have had a chance to win the game,” Nabors said. “I am not surprised one bit of the performance she gave tonight. We expected that type of performance. It is a lot of pressure on her being a freshman and having to run the show. The type of system that we run, the point guard has to be good for our system to be successful. She did a good job and she will continue to get better. She has ice in her veins as they say and she is not afraid of the moment.”
Woodrow got the stop it needed on the next South possession, but as the Flying Eagles moved the ball up the floor, Shamblin made the play of the game.
“She does a great job of anticipating, especially on the weak side of that zone. She moves on release real well and she had several of those in our scrimmage and in the first game against Hurricane,” Davis said. “She is just learning to play the game. She missed all of last year with an injury.”
Woodrow Wilson will look to bounce back Saturday when it hosts Bluefield.
PS: 10 14 11 13 – 50
WW: 8 9 20 7 – 44
Individual scoring
PS: Gracie Shamblin 8, Hannah Wingrove 3, Grace Sandy 11, Brooke Sandy 13, Taylor Graham 3, Skylar Bosley 8, Camille Rhodes 2, Abbey Smith 2. Totals: 17 10-13 50.
WW: Olivia Ziolkowski 9, Josie Cross 2, Abby Dillon 17, Sarah Hopkins 6, Adriana Law 10. Totals: 16 6-112 44.
3-pointers – PS: 6 (Wingrove, G. Sandy 3, B. Sandy, Graham); WW: 6 (Ziolkowski, Dillon 3, Hopkins, Law)
