Gallery by Chad Foreman
Hinton – Last year in an opening round loss in the Rogers Oil Classic, Chapmanville head coach Kristina Gore was far from happy with her team’s effort.
What a difference a year can make.
Advancing to the 2022 Rogers Oil Classic championship game Saturday night, the Tigers exploded for 20 points in the third quarter to defeat Summers County 50-40.
“I saw a lot of growth and maturity, honestly, and that tickles me the most. We are a much different team than we were a year ago” Gore said. “Our sophomore point guard (Haley Flemming) has taken a lot of steps here in just the last two days of this tournament. This is kind of a hostile environment. They always have a nice crowd here and the student section does a nice job.”
Following a first half that saw six leads changes and both teams fighting foul issues to key players, the Bobcats took a 23-21 lead into the locker room.
The third quarter however belonged totally to the visitors who separated the game with a 13-point scoring burst.
“We talked about our offensive continuity. We wanted to get some more ball reversals and talked about how we didn’t need to rush things,” Gore said. We wanted to focus better and be more aggressive.”
The difference maker for the Tigers out of the break was Haley Fleming who scored 11 of her 13 points in the decisive third quarter.
“She is playing fast, but she is much more controlled,” Gore said. “She is seeing the floor better and the game is slowing down for her.”
After a pair of free throws from Gracie Harvey extended the lead to 25-21 to open the third quarter, Fleming scored to cut the lead back to two points.
Thirty seconds later, Jaycee Blair knocked down her only bucket of the game to give Chapmanville a lead it never relinquished.
Fleming scored on a back-door cut before Alaira Evans capped the 13-0 run with an old school 3-point play a a triple from straight away.
“We were unable to match the run. Quite frankly we had trouble with their defense and could not get the ball in the basket,” Summers County head coach Chad Meador said. “To stop a run you have to score a little bit and we didn’t score. We didn’t do a good job of identifying the openings. We have to go back to the drawing board and find something to run against that defense.”
A bucket from Abby Persinger finally broke the Chapmanville run, but seven points from Fleming over the final two minutes gave the Tigers a 41-29 lead after three quarters.
“We were patient offensively and didn’t force the issue in the second half,” Gore said. “We got a few back-doors and took advantage of their aggressiveness.
The biggest lead of the game was 15 points with 2:46 to play after Evans scored again on back-to-back buckets.
Evans, who led all scorers with 18 points, played last year at George Washington, but she is no stranger at Chapmanville.
“They all know each other and grew up together. Alaira came home. They all played together in middle school. I actually was with this group of juniors in sixth through eighth grade,” Gore said. “They are meshing very nicely. She is the piece that we needed to round out the talent that we had. We needed another physical presence inside and she compliments the things that the others can do.”
Summers entered the game with a defensive game plan that Meador felt like it executed. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, Chapmanville had answers elsewhere.
“The focus going in was try to slow Daizi down and we accomplished that mission,” Meador said. “The problem with Chapmanville is you can’t hone in on one player. They have a lot of offense and a lot of support.”
While Gore was pleased with the win, she knows things will likely be different when the two teams meet in a couple of weeks back in Logan County.
“This game worked out like we wanted it too, but I saw coach Meador and the look on his girl’s faces,” Gore said. “I know Dec. 30 when they come back to Chapmanville, we could see a little more fire.”
The Summers County head coach admitted he has his work cut out for him after Saturday’s setback.
“They knew every play we ran tonight and they knew every in-bound set that we tried to run,” Meador said. “That is on me. Coach Gore is one of the best coaches out there and I am going to have to do a better job for us to have a chance in a couple of weeks.”
Summers County (4-1) is back in action Tuesday when it hosts Shady Spring.
C: 12 9 20 9 – 50
SC: 13 10 6 11 – 40
Chapmanville
Jaiden Mahan 7, Alaira Evans 18, Daizi Farley 5, Haley Fleming 13, Jaycee Blair 3, Brooke Christian 4. Totals: 18 10-18 50.
Summers County
Liv Meador 6, Avery Lilly 7, Gracie Harvey 10, Abby Persinger 11, Sullivan Pivont 6. Totals: 15 10-17 40.
3-pointers – C: 4 (Evans, Farley, Fleming, Blair); SC: none
