By Rick Ryan, For the Gazette-Mail
Charleston – Normally, when teams shoot 22 percent and turn the ball 18 times, good things don’t happen. But thanks to a zeal for rebounding and covering loose balls, Princeton received the ultimate reward Wednesday night — a berth in the state tournament.
The unheralded Tigers overcame all those ills with a vengeance and held on in the frantic final stages to post a 36-34 victory at George Washington in the Class AAAA Region 3 co-finals and earn a place in next week’s big show at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
It’s the first trip to the state tournament for Princeton since 2013, and as the No. 7 seed in the eight-team field, the Tigers (11-14) will match up with No. 2 seed Morgantown at 1 p.m. on Tuesday in the AAAA quarterfinals.
“The girls bought into a game plan and they executed it,” said Princeton coach Matt Smith. “We get to play again. Now we get the opportunity these girls have dreamed of their whole lives, and I couldn’t be happier for them.”
Even though Princeton made just 13 of 58 shots from the floor and frequently turned the ball over, it dominated the rebounding battle (59-24), with three different players in double figures — Asia Collins (12), Kylie Conner (11) and Maddie Stull (10). Stull also led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points.
“Coach [Scott] Miller told them yesterday, ‘If you don’t rebound, you don’t play,”’ Smith said. “Plain and simple. We had a good idea what kind of game it was going to be. If we could force them to take contested shots … we just knew we had to rebound. And they bought in. Fifty-some rebounds — that’s amazing.”
George Washington (16-8) didn’t shoot much better than the Tigers, hitting 13 of 47 shots (28%), but the Patriots were really off on their 3-pointers. They missed their first 19 attempts, and didn’t get one to fall until Candra Frazier found the range with 6:39 left in the game.
That shaved Princeton’s virtual game-long lead to 26-23 and set up a tight finish.
GW got within 34-31 when Finley Lohan knocked down a 3 from the right corner with 1:10 remaining. Princeton tried to milk the clock, but the Patriots’ Peyton Adkins turned in a hustle play by diving along the sideline to force a tied ball and give possession back to GW with 48 seconds to go.
The Patriots missed a shot, however, and Conner made 1 of 2 free throws with 20 seconds remaining for a 35-31 Princeton advantage. Michaela Harmon then sank another 3 for GW and it was 35-34 with 10 seconds left. Conner again made 1 of 2 at the line for a two-point lead and the Patriots had possession with eight seconds on the clock.
Lohan got a clean look near the foul line, but the shot failed to drop, setting off a wild celebration for the Tigers and their fans.
“Credit Princeton and Coach Smith,” said GW coach Jamie LaMaster. “It’s been a while since Princeton made the state tournament and they’re getting hot at the right time. I’m happy for their seniors.
“Maybe where we didn’t have any seniors, maybe our sense of urgency wasn’t there. I saw a lot of 50-50 balls that could have gone either way, and they seemed to be coming up with them, as well as rebound after rebound.”
GW seniors Kierstyn Fore and Kensy Thomas were felled by preseason knee injuries, and junior sharpshooter Macie Mallory also couldn’t play Wednesday due to her own knee injury.
The more GW started missing from beyond the arc, the more Princeton’s defense backed off. The Patriots were 0-of-12 on 3s at halftime and trailed 13-12.
“They were sagging back in the lane,” LaMaster said, “and putting pressure on Finley out there. I think we were taking good shots. I don’t think we were being selfish at all. The shots weren’t going down. I kept telling myself eventually they were going to start dropping, but they didn’t.
“To say the least, we’re disappointed. I thought Princeton was really hungry and I thought Princeton played really hard and deserved to win tonight by playing that way.”
Smith said that was the plan all along — to make GW beat his team from the outside.
“That’s how we came into the game,” Smith said. “My coaching staff is the best in the state of West Virginia … They watch film, they watch film. They said, ‘Matt, make them shoot, and rebound the heck out of the ball.’ And that’s what we did tonight.”
Collins added eight points for Princeton. Lohan led GW with 13 points and eight rebounds and Zaniah Zellous had 12 points, six rebounds and three steals.
Princeton 36, George Washington 34
Princeton;6;7;9;14;–;36
George Wash.;4;8;8;14;–;34
Princeton (11-14)
Conner 2-9 3-6 7, Stull 4-17 2-4 10, Bane 2-9 0-0 4, Davis 1-11 2-2 4, Wright 0-1 0-0 0, Collins 3-6 1-1 8, Southers 1-5 1-2 3, totals 13-58 9-15 36
George Washington (16-8)
Frazier 1-4 0-2 3, Lohan 5-10 2-4 13, Smith 1-10 0-0 3, Adkins 0-6 0-0 0, Zellous 5-15 2-3 12, Harmon 1-2 0-0 3, totals 13-47 4-9 34
3-point shooting: Princeton 1-8 (Stull 0-1, Bane 0-2, Davis 0-3, Collins 1-1, Southers 0-1), GW 4-25 (Frazier 0-3, Lohan 1-2, Smith 1-9, Adkins 0-4, Zellous 0-5, Harmon 1-2)
