Charleston – With all-state guard Peyton Ilderton drawing most of the headlines and attention there was room for a few other Logan Wildcats to step up. Natalie Blankenship and Halle Crouse did just that.
Crouse scored 20 points and Blankenship 19 as Logan defeated Philip Barbour 62-44 Wednesday afternoon in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
With the win Logan advances to Friday’s Class AAA semifinal where it will play No. 3 North Marion.
The Wildcats were efficient from the field, converting on 47 percent of their field goal attempts but were deadeye from beyond the arc where they were 9 of 18 on the afternoon.
“We do a drill called 55 and we do it about every day,” Logan coach Kevin Gertz said. “There’s five spots on the floor and we have to make 11 before we move on. After you do that you go to the top of the key and move on. We practiced at West Virginia State today and after our 55 we hit 25 more 3s. I was here scoring but my coaches messaged me and told me that and I said ‘boys it’s going to be a pretty good day’ and it was.”
The outputs from Crouse and Blankenship were career-high for both and necessary with Ilderton’s shooting struggles (3 of 9) from the field.
“Peyton’s our leader. There’s no doubt about that,” Gertz said. I wouldn’t trade her for any player in the state period. She didn’t have her normal scoring night but I’ve told many people she can go any night without scoring and be worth her weight in gold. The two girls next to her (Crouse and Blankenship) stepped up and I’m pretty sure they had their career highs and that’s what you do. That’s what a great team does. When one is struggling you have to have some people pick them up and that’s what we did today.
Braylyn Sparks led Philip Barbour with 12 points while Mattie Marsh scored 11 to go along with 15 rebounds.
