Gallery by Greg Barnett
Princeton – Wednesday’s matchup between Greenbrier East and Princeton came down to one thing in the eyes of East head coach and W.Va Gov. Jim Justice.
“How many free throws did we shoot? How many did they shoot? There’s your game,” Justice quipped before exiting the gym.
The answer to his questions loomed large as the Tigers shot 30 free throws to East’s six, surviving a late Spartan rally to secure a 53-46 win at Princeton High School.
The Tigers’ penchant for getting to the line aided their style of play as they also held East to 29 percent shooting on 58 attempts, while baiting the Spartans into 19 turnovers.
“Let’s start with Asia (Collins),” Princeton head coach Matt Smith said. “She had the toughest matchup of the night. You know, Kennedy (Stewart) is a heck of a basketball player and Asia stayed with her and frustrated her. That’s what starts it and then we feed off of that defensive effort but we do have to do a better job of clearing and rebounding on the backside. The reason they had so many shots is because we didn’t clear the rebounds. But I am proud of the effort like I told you before the year, defense doesn’t take nights off so we are proud of the effort they brought tonight.”
Princeton’s offense struggled as well throughout the evening, hitting on just 35 percent of its 43 shot attempts while committing 15 turnovers but the 17 points picked up at the line made up for it. The charge was primarily led by senior standout Maddie Stull who scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while converting on all seven of her free throw attempts.
“Maddie stepped up huge,” Smith said. “You know, she started her night getting to that weak spot and hitting that jump shot. And then when we needed her, she got inside and she took care of them and made free throws. But that’s the difference – Maddie is a senior and she’s been there. She knows what it takes and she was that leader out there that we had to have and like I said, when we needed a stop or if we needed a big possession Maddie came up huge.”
Neither team created much separation throughout the evening with the largest lead of the first half – a five-point advantage – belonging to East. But the cushion fell apart up 23-18 in the second. Princeton closed the half with one 7-0 run and opened the second half with another to see its deficit turn into a 32-23 advantage early in the third. The run saw four different Tigers register field goals with Collins nailing two and Kendra Conner and Kalee Wright connecting on a 3 each.
Stull twice gave the Tigers a 10-point with a 3 and later a layup as the hosts held 40-32 advantage heading into the final frame.
But the young Spartans rallied.
Kennedy Stewart kicked it off with a layup and MacKenna McClure followed with one as well. The two went in reverse order later in the frame with Stewart nailing a 3 that tied the contest at 46. Those were the last points East produced as Princeton picked up its final seven points at the free throw line.
Justice, infuriated after Waller was called for a travel down 50-46 with 15 seconds to go, was hit with a technical, allowing Stull two more free throws to close the game at the line.
Princeton finished with 19 free throw attempts in the second half while East didn’t take a single foul shot after the intermission.
Though 24 of East’s 58 field goal attempts came from beyond the arc, which Smith thought played a role in the foul discrepancy.
“I mean, they did take more jump shots and I think we attacked the rim.” Smith said. “You know, I get the frustration and I’ve been on the other side of those games, sometimes up in the Greenbrier Valley it goes that way. But I think that the difference is our our kids put the ball on the floor and attacked the rack and we didn’t settle. I think that was a big part of it. And Maddie, she’s been there. She kind of knows how to get in and draw that contact. So we’ll leave it at that.”
McClure led East with 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting while Stewart added 10 on 3 of 14 shooting.
GE: 12 11 9 14 – 46
P: 10 15 15 11 – 53
Greenbrier East
A. Workman 2, K. Stewart 10, J. Waller, S. Banton 7, M. McClure 12, H. Fuller 6
Princeton
Kalee Wright 9, Kendra Conner 3, Maddie Stull 22, Addisyn Sarver 3, Emma Harmon 1, Asia Collins 5, Carley Hurt 10
