Gallery by Greg Barnett
Princeton – Princeton head coach Matt Smith would’ve felt comfortable if you had told him his team would help limit Greenbrier East all-stater Cadence Stewart to two points through three quarters.
The problem was solving the younger Stewart sister.
Freshman point guard Kennedy Stewart poured in 29 points on 11 of 16 shooting, as the Lady Spartans weathered some late turbulence to secure a 55-52 victory over the Tigers in Princeton Thursday.
Leading by five points in the final 39 seconds, East survived a technical foul, a lane violation and an offensive foul on an inbounds play turning away three separate Princeton attempts to tie the game.
“We got a tough tough call,” East head coach and W.Va Governor Jim Justice said. “Cadence got a technical foul and that’s the only technical foul I’ve ever known Cadence Stewart to get in her life but it was a tough call. But you know referees are doing the very best they could possibly do and I thought they did a good job and everything. We foul a lot. We just do. That’s all there is to it. But we didn’t get to the foul line a lot either.”
The host Tigers attempted 27 free throws to East’s six, scoring 17 point from the charity stripe which made up for their struggles from the field where they shot 31 percent.
East meanwhile rode the hot hand of Kennedy Stewart who scored eight points in the opening frame with a pair of threes propelling her.
“They kind of left me open deep and my teammates saw that,” Stewart said. “They set some screens for me and I shot it well. They really found me tonight.
Stewart helped East to a 13-10 lead after a quarter and a 29-27 advantage at the half with 14 of her team’s points.
A 6-0 spurt with buckets from Hannah Fuller, Caroline Dotson and Stewart pushed the advantage to eight points for the visitors but Princeton answered with its own charge – a theme of the night – quelling the momentum with 3s from Kalyn Davis and Autumn Bane.
“Character, heart – that’s what these girls have displayed and they showed it again tonight,” Smith said. “Coach (Scott) Miller said when they went into that weave it was easy to give up. Our girls didn’t give up and fought to the end. That senior group, they got after it and wanted it. I know tonight was emotional but they have that desire to win and even though they didn’t win tonight they showed that desire and were unaffected.”
Stewart answered with a 3 of her own and her older sister Cadence followed with her first points of the game, eventually helping East carry a 42-37 advantage to the final quarter.
There, the younger Stewart frustrated the Tigers again with a 3-point play and a 3, answering a long ball from Reagan Southers and extending the East advantage to eight points.
“You hold Cadence to two, and credit goes to the girls,” Smith said. “Kennedy played the best game I’ve ever seen her play. She got going early and it didn’t stop. I give her all the credit and she deserves it. She played the role tonight. She came into a hostile environment and it wasn’t too big for her. I give her all the credit for that.”
The Tigers made another charge later in the frame to cut the deficit to six at 52-46 but Cadence hit on her only trey of the evening to extend the advantage to nine and and account for East’s final points of the evening.
After nailing a pair of free throws off the technical, Princeton had three looks at tying the game but its deep, quick looks didn’t connect.
“We had three good looks and maybe we were a little deeper and faster than need be,” Smith said. “But on the other side of that I had three different girls step up and not be afraid to take that shot. That’s huge. They were maybe a little out of range and rushed and we pressed maybe a little too much. But I remember being 17 and 18 and that clock’s going faster in your mind.”
Kennedy Stewart led all scorers with 29 while Kalyn Davis led Princeton with 13.
The two teams will meet again in two weeks in the opening round of sectional play at Greenbrier East.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.ocm and follow on witter @tjack94
GE: 13 16 13 13 – 55
P: 10 17 10 13 – 52
Greenbrier East
K. Stewart 29, C. Stewart 7, C. Dotson 5, M. McClure 1, A. Fuller 13
Princeton
Kylie Conner 4, Maddie Stull 12, Autumn Bane 10, Reagan Southers 7, Kalyn Davis 13, Kalee Wright 6
3-point goals – GE: 8 (K. Stewart 6, C. Stewart 1, C. Dotson 1); P: 10 17 10 13
