New Richmond – For the better part of eight years the Wyoming East girls have entered the season with one overarching expectation – win a state championship. They’ve made it to the title game five times in that span, securing two titles and now they’re hoping to play on the final Saturday for the third consecutive year.
Following a 67-35 loss to Parkersburg Catholic in last year’s title game the motivation to return to the top of the mountain is at an all-time high
“We have that goal every year,” Wyoming East coach Angie Boninsegna said. “Every year we come out and we want to play that last Saturday and there’s so many factors. Injuries and foul trouble can play a role but that’s what we’re searching for.”
The Lady Warriors are as loaded as they’ve ever been for a title run. Abby Russell, Maddie Clark and Kayley Bane have all been first-team all-staters at some point in their career and all played a key role in the program’s 2021 state title run. On top of those three, starters Colleen Lookabill and Cadee Blackburn return joined by key bench players Alivia Monroe, Charleigh Price. The experience in this group has Boninsegna excited but the chemistry has been key as well.
“They work well together and they’re very good buddies off the court,” Boninsegna said. “We have a mixture of youth and experience so hopefully our experience will help the youth come along like we need to because we have a really rough schedule this year.
“Groups will tell you early on what they need to be successful,” Boninsegna said. “We try to adjust early on to help them be successful. This group is a little cut up. They’re reminiscent of back when we had Gabby (Lupardus) and them. They really get along well though. They all went to eat together at Fujiyama and they get along well. We’ve got good senior leadership and Maddie (Clark) and them have stepped up as juniors as well.”
The schedule features many of the same teams the Lady Warriors have faced over the years, but each are tougher than they’ve ever been. Mingo returns an all-state point guard, Chapmanville returns most of its players from a regional finalist and Summers County, a sectional foe, returns all but one player from a state tournament team.
On top of those teams the Lady Warriors will face Belfry out of Kentucky, Class AAAA Spring Valley, Class AA semifinals St. Marys and Class AAA state champion Logan. Needless to say it will prepare the Lady Warriors for March and test their depth.
“It gives us a lot of versatility in what we want to do and we have a really tough region,” Boninsegna said. “We’re going to have to use everybody at one point during the season to help us out. I have a lot of respect for Chad (Meador) at Summers County and Bluefield. On the other side Mingo Central and Chapmanville always provide a challenge so hopefully we’ll be versatile with our bench because we’re deeper and hopefully that’ll help us do different things on the court.”
Despite their experience and four seniors, the Lady Warriors do have some younger players. Clark is only a junior and Blackburn and Monroe are sophomores. Abby Baker, to figures to see time in the rotation is a freshman. they’re liable to be the game opposing teams circle on their schedule this season, meaning they’ll be the hunted.
That doesn’t phase Boninsegna.
“We’ve got confidence in them,” Boninsegna said. “Hopefully they’ve gained confidence with each experience they’ve had. (Cadee) Blackburn for example hit two crucial foul shots against Logan last year. We really work hard during the offseason. We’re confident in them and when we put them in there we’re not going to ask them to do anything they can’t do. Again with that comes a lot of pressure. There are a lot of really good teams in double-A so we’re playing a lot of good teams and that will show us where we’re at. Overall it’s nothing but positives working with these kids.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
