Girls Basketball: Patriots erase late deficit, conquer Spartans in OT

Fairlea – For 31 minutes George Washington struggled to find much offense outside of what sophomore Finley Lohan could provide.

But with their season and a state tournament berth on the line, her teammates answered.

Trailing by five with just over a minute left, Kierstyn Fore canned a corner 3 and Alaira Evans later converted on a layup that tied the game with 16 seconds left, forcing overtime where the Lady Patriots pulled ahead for a 53-48 victory in one of the Class AAAA Region 3 co-finals Wednesday night in Fairlea.

Having made just three field goals in the second half prior to Fore and Evans’ heroics, GW head coach Jamie LaMaster was searching for a solution with the sophomore and junior duo answering the call.

“Biggest shot of the game there was Kierstyn out of the corner,” LaMaster said. “I kept stressing to them ‘If you’re open in this situation and we need points, if you’re going to carry the check you got to put it in the bank, so you’ve got to go with confidence.’ It can’t be like stroking the ball and just let it go. Fortunately it went in.”

In a game that featured seven ties and 10 lead changes with neither team led by more than seven, it only made sense it would take an extra period to determine a winner.

Early it looked like it might end convincingly in regulation.

Behind a pair of 3s from Lohan and Fore, GW raced out to a 10-4 lead but an 8-0 East run featuring a three-point play from Daisha Summers, a layup from Cadence Stewart and a 3 from Allie Dunford turned the lead over to East. A 3-pointer a layup courtesy of Fore staked the visitors to a 15-14 lead after a quarter but the back and forth pace carried through the third quarter until East took a 37-35 lead on a Dunford steal and layup.

The advantage held throughout the final quarter as GW struggled to find the bottom of the net.

“It was the same message it’s been all year,” LaMaster said. “Keep playing and get to the rim and attack. Take the open shots but that has happened to us all year. We have competed in games and for example in the sectional final it’s tied 23-23 going into the half. Like the fourth quarter. We would have a three or four possession stretch where we would get nothing and the other team would get everything and we would have these breakdowns. I don’t have an answer for it other than to keep coaching through it and you know they’re young so you’ve got to keep working with them.”

The Spartans succeeded in getting their top player in Cadence Stewart going early as she scored eight points on 50 percent shooting from the floor in the first half, a shift from the regular season season where Stewart drew the attention of Lohan.

Unfortunately for the Lady Spartans their other all-stater Daisha Summers, who averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds per game, couldn’t replicate the regular-season success she had in the two games against GW.

The Wyoming East transfer finished 3 of 12 from the floor, scoring nine points. She also battled foul trouble, picking up her third of the game with over three minutes to go in the first half.

“Maybe we were being a little stronger with the ball,” LaMaster said. “Maybe we were trying to get to the rim a a little stronger and maybe caught her in some bad positions but you’re right, (Summers) owned us. The first time she dropped (28). Cadence is a great, great player and I’m certainly not taking anything away from her because I like her a lot and she’s a great young lady but Fin just seems to do a great job defending her. I don’t really have an answer as to how or why other than we say ‘Fin, you’ve got Cadence.'”

Stewart was limited to four more points the rest of the way but the backbreaker came when she was called for her fifth personal foul on Evans’ layup that tied it. Evans missed the ensuing free throw, allowing for overtime but the loss of Stewart hampered the Spartans in the extra period.

YO ALAIRA EVANS TIES IT! Misses the FT though. pic.twitter.com/YXji0md7mB

— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) March 3, 2022

“That takes a lot out of your sails,” Greenbrier East head coach and W.Va Gov. Jim Justice said. “You needed a ball handler and you need a lot of things she brings to the table but that made it tough, it made it really tough.”

A 3-pointer from Nasiya Smith off an assist from Lohan opened the overtime period before Summers scored the final point of her career, splitting a pair of free throws. From then on Lohan carried the Lady Patriots home, scoring the final five points for her team, sending them to next week’s state tournament.

“It’s tremendous,” LaMaster said. “We’re not used to – and I don’t mean this arrogantly – but we’re not used to being – at one point we were six games under .500 and that’s not what we’re accustomed to. I like to think we’re in the conversation for a state tournament every year and I know you can’t make it every year but our expectation is to get there … Even in this game I’m playing with house money and I’m in a regional final.

“Even in this game I can say ‘Hey guys, you got it’ and now to win it and get there, we’re really playing with house money. We’ve got extra money in the pocket now. Whatever happens down in Charleston is Charleston but we made Charleston. That’s all these kids know.”

Lohan led all scorers with 22 points on 10 of 17 shooting while Fore added 14. Dunford led East with 14 while Stewart pitched in 12.

GW advances to next week’s state tournament at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center where it will be the No. 8 seed, facing No. 1 Huntington on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.