Charleston – For the first time since 2013 Logan is heading to the Class AAA state championship game.
The Lady Wildcats overcame a 10-point deficit at halftime to beat North Marion 55-53 Friday afternoon at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
Led by 27 points from all-stater Peyton Ilderton, the Wildcats outscored the Huskies 16-6 in the third quarter to tie the game. Ilderton broke two ties with the first and second buckets of the fourth quarter, giving the Wildcats the lead for good with 5:56 left.
The Huskies persisted, rallying form a seven-point deficit with 1:23 left to get within a point but a missed layup with under 10 seconds allowed the Wildcats to survive and advance.
Despite being out-rebounded 43-31 the Wildcats made the difference up by shooting 40 percent to North Marion’s 25 percent showing from the floor. The deciding factor was how Logan handled North Marion’s patented press, committing just seven turnovers.
“Everybody said what’s the key to this and we said keep it under 15 (turnovers),” Logan coach Kevin Gertz said. “Seven is way under 15. We tried to keep our live-ball turnovers under five. We did what we had to do and took care of the ball.”
Logan will play the winner of Friday’s Fairmont Senior-PikeView team at 5:30 on Saturday.
