By Rick Farlow, courtesy of the Charleston Gazette-Mail
Sissonville took care of business in its Class AAA Region 3 girls basketball co-final on Tuesday night.
The Indians played a stifling defense on their way to a 50-26 win at home over Shady Spring to earn their first state tournament berth since 2018.
“This group has come a long way since the beginning of the year,” Sissonville coach Chad McClanahan said. “They’ve come together as a team. We always said we wanted to be playing our best ball at the right time of the year and fortunately for us it’s this time of the year.”
The Indians (11-13) held Shady Spring (10-8) to just seven field goals while 12 of the Tigers’ 26 points came via free throws.
Kynadee Britton hit a field goal midway through the first quarter and Sissonville never looked back as it led the rest of the game.
After taking a 10-7 lead into the second quarter, Sissonville did not allow a field goal in the period and outscored Shady Spring 10-4 to take a 20-11 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter Kierra Richmond and Braylie Wiseman combined for six points to cut Sissonville’s lead to 22-17, but Haley Jarret responded with two 3-pointers in a row to put the Indians up 28-17.
Sissonville led 30-21 going into the fourth and the Indians posted a 7-0 run to start the final period. From there the rout was on.
“Great team ball,” McClanahan said. “We shared the ball offensively. I’m sure Shady came in expecting to slow down Kyna [Britton]. We were able to move the ball around offensively and get some easy looks. Our defense has stepped up another notch lately.”
Shady Spring shot 7 of 34 (20.5%) and was 12 of 14 from the line. The Tigers had 14 turnovers.
Richmond was Shady Spring’s leading scorer with 13 points.
Sissonville shot 19 of 48 (39.5%) as a team and was 5 of 6 from the line. The Indians committed 10 turnovers.
Madison McCutcheon led the way offensively for Sissonville with 17 points, including four 3-pointers. Jarrett scored 14 points and Britton finished with 11.
“Once we first came on board last offseason and into the summer, that was our goal to get to the state tournament,” McClanahan said. “We put in a lot of work. It’s good for the girls to see that pay off.”
Sissonville 50, Shady Spring 26
Shady Spring: 7 4 10 5 – 26
Sissonville: 10 10 10 20 – 50
Shady Spring (10-8)
Richmond 4-15 5-7 13, Gibson 0-3 4-4 4, Adkins 1-4 1-2 3, K.Barnes 0-8 0-0 0, Wiseman 2-4 2-2 6, totals 7-34 12-14 26
Sissonville (11-13)
Jarrett 6-11 0-0 14, Ullman 1-4 1-2 5, Jones 1-7 0-0 3, Britton 4-14 3-3 11, McCutcheon 6-16 1-1 17, totals 19-48 5-6 50
3-point goals — Shady Spring 0, Sissonville 7 (Jarrett 2, McCutcheon 4, Jones)
