Gallery by Heather Belcher
New Richmond – If you’re attending the girls state tournament in Charleston next week it’s in your best interest to grab your Zul’s frozen lemonade before Thursday as the brand’s most insatiable customers are heading back to the capital.
Wyoming East blitzed Mingo Central Wednesday night, forcing 32 turnovers in a 71-34 victory over the Lady Miners in the Class AA Region 3 co-final in New Richmond.
The win clinches the fourth consecutive state tournament berth for the Lady Warriors who claimed two state championships (2021 and ’23) over that span.
East will be the No. 1 seed in the Class AA field next week and will open its title defense Thursday, March 7 at 5:30 in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center against No. 8 Charleston Catholic.
There was little doubt what the Lady Warriors planned to do Wednesday. They doubled and denied Mingo all-stater Addie Smith, turning steal after steal into easy points at the bucket. Early on even advancing the ball past half court seemed like a monumental task for the Lady Miners.
East all-stater Cadee Blackburn, the fondest of Zul’s, led the overall charge with a game-high 24 points and 12 steals, half of the 24 the Lady Warriors collected on the evening.
“The Zul’s are probably my favorite part,” Blackburn chuckled. “We knew what we had to do and I knew I had to guard this game. I tend to play defense in spurts. But I’m doing better and I played defense today.”
The trio of Blackburn, fellow all-stater Maddie Clark and Abi Baker made life miserable for Mingo from the jump. Blackburn’s first steal led to a Clark layup for the game’s first points. Clark then nabbed a pass six seconds later and turned it into another layup. Blackburn called her own number next with her second swipe and a layup, giving East a 6-0 lead before Mingo managed its first shot attempt.
Gianna Akers eventually broke the drought off an assist from Smith but Alivia Monroe jumped in on the defensive action for East, nabbing another steal for a quick layup. It was rinse and repeat with Baker adding to the tally with a swipe and dish to Clark for a layup.
In total East’s first 10 points came off of steals.
“It started last week against Summers County,” East head coach Ryan Davidson said. “We picked up the defense a little bit and then we wanted to ratchet it up a little bit more and I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think we’re where we’re going to be. There’s still some things we haven’t shown but I don’t think we’re at our ceiling. I really don’t.”
The defensive effort was so effective East rode it to an 18-4 advantage after a quarter and effectively neutralized Smith without a player to complement her. The duo of Baker and Clark kept Smith off the board until nearly 10 minutes into the game by which point Mingo was already down 24-6 following her first points.
East’s advantage eventually ballooned to 39-11 at the break and Smith, who passed out and had to be helped off the floor at the half, watched the rest of the game from the bench. Her coach and mother, Kim Davis-Smith, confirmed her wellbeing after the game.
“(Smith’s) a really, really good basketball player,” Davidson said. “She can score that thing so we blitzed her the whole evening. We just did. We sent it from different areas and different angles. We didn’t want it to look the same every time. So they were coming from all over the place and if somebody else was going to beat us then so be it.”
East finished the first half with 16 steals, forcing Mingo into 21 turnovers. The latter total closed at 32, summarizing the game.
“(The pressure) was the difference in the game, and we knew that,” Davis-Smith said. “I mean, they’re a great team, and that’s what they’re really good at. Very good at it. We were hoping to withstand the storm and try to get a little bit later in the game there. But yeah, they’re really good. You know, they have a good opportunity to repeat and Blackburn had a great game.”
East will head back to Charleston in a different position than usual.
Despite having played in six state championship games since 2016, winning three, the Lady Warriors haven’t been the No. 1 overall seed since winning the first title in program history in 2016. That advantage should pay dividends as the Class AA tournament will be played across three consecutive days, a difference from years past.
“We had some goals at the beginning of the year,” Davidson said. “And getting the top seed was one of them. We wanted to be the preseason No. 1 and we wanted to stay there and with our schedule as hard as it was we knew it was gonna be hard. So yeah, that’s one thing that we wanted to check off and I’m really proud of them for being able to do it.”
Clark and Baker joined Blackburn in double figures with 22 and 14 points, respectively. Delaney Grimmett and Akers scored nine each for Mingo.
MC: 4 7 13 10 – 34
WE: 18 21 26 6 – 71
Mingo Central
Addie Smith 5, Delaney Grimmett 9, Gianna Akers 9, Karissa Bradford 2, Jayden Bailey 6, Eva Monroe 3
Wyoming East
Maddie Clark 22, Cadee Blackburn 24, Alivia Monroe 6, Abi Baker 14, Gabby Cameron 2, Kyndal Lusk 3
