Charleston – A 1 of 9 showing for Cameron’s Maci Neely with four seconds left in the Class A title game wouldn’t have made her a likely hero but four seconds were all she needed to add her name to state tournament lore.
After a pair of Ashlynn Van Tassell free throws tied the game at 50 with 4.2 seconds left, Emilee Dobbs tipped an inbounds pass that fell into the hands of Neely who swished a 25-foot 3-pointer before the final buzzer sounded to deliver Cameron a 53-50 win and a state championship.
OMG!! pic.twitter.com/G2yQ2mNBqB
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) March 12, 2022
Struggling with turnovers in the first half, the Lady Dragons rallied, ripping off a 9-0 run in the third quarter that threatened to blow the game open. But the Titans had other thoughts.
They answered in the shape of Van Tassell who grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds before being sent to the line down two. With tears in her eyes, she nailed both, setting the stage for the game-winning shot.
Van Tassell scored 27 and grabbed 19 rebounds, setting a new Class A tournament record with 63 total rebounds.
Class A All-Tournament team
Kadie Colebank, Tucker County
Taylor McHenry, Gilmer County
Kaylea Baisden, Tug Valley
Kenzie Clutter, Cameron
Trinity Bancroft, Gilmer
Sydney Baird, Webster County
Emma Taylor, Gilmer
Ashlynn Van Tassell, Cameron#wvgirlsbb— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) March 12, 2022
