Gallery by Heather Belcher
New Richmond – Mingo Central needed its own Rudolph to guide it through the blizzard of Wyoming East’s defense.
The Lady Warriors weren’t allowing her to join in on the reindeer games.
East held Class AA No. 9 Mingo Central all-stater Addie Smith without a field goal for the first 22 minutes of the contest, waltzing to a 63-38 victory over the Miners Saturday evening in New Richmond.
Smith finished the evening with 10 points, nine of which came in the final 9:35 of the contest, and rarely had any opportunities at open looks. She attempted just four field goals in the first half, constantly pestered by East guards Abi Baker and Kyndal Lusk.
“I’ve got a ton of respect for that young lady,” East head coach Ryan Davidson said of Smith. “
I think she can really score basketball and she’s gonna have a monster year. But I also think that I’ve got maybe two of the best defenders in this area, if not two of the best in the state in Kyndal and Abi. and Rylee’s (Brown) getting there. 
So I will put them out there on an island with anybody and we didn’t have to help, we didn’t have to do anything but just straight up play. And if they screen for her, don’t get screened. That was pretty much the motto.”
For Class AA No. 3 East (5-1) it was business as usual and a continuous nightmare for Mingo Central (3-2).
After turning the ball over 32 times in their regional loss at East last year, the Miners struggled in that same department again, giving the ball away 29 times Saturday – 15 times in the first half. East feasted, coming away with 19 steals and excelling in transition. The hosts finished the night shooting 22 of 31 from inside the arc with all but one of those field goals coming at the rim.
“I mean, you can attribute that to Wyoming East’s defensive play, for sure,” Mingo head coach Kim Davis Smith said. “We were without one of our guards tonight, so that impacts us for sure and our timing. When you’re playing against that kind of defensive team where that’s their strong suit, that’s what happens. But we weren’t able to get the ball back to (Addie) to give her any – I’m not sure what the shot opportunities were but they were very minimal. That puts you behind.”
The first possession of the game which consumed almost two minutes for Mingo’s offense foreshadowed the evening. The Miners moved the ball around relentlessly, coming up empty when Kerissa Bradford missed a layup.
Baker eventually opened the scoring with a steal and layup that culminated in a three-point play. Gianna Akers, who led Mingo with 13 points, broke the ice for the Miners off an offensive rebound with four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Then came a lengthy drought.
A 3 from Rylee Brown and a layup from Abi Baker kicked off a 13-0 blitz from the Lady Warriors that lasted into the second quarter.
When Delaney Grimmett split a pair of free throws with under six minutes to go in the second, the visitors were in a 16-3 hole. A 3 from Grimmett later in the frame helped cut the deficit back to 10 at 18-8 but the blizzard worsened again. A 13-4 run, which featured six straight points from Baker and was capped by five straight from Blackburn, put the hosts firmly in control at 31-12 through a half.
The lead ballooned to as many as 29 points in the third quarter with the Miners never threatening the rest of the way.
Alivia Monroe (14) and Kyndal Lusk (10) joined Blackburn (13) and Baker in double figures. Monroe finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds. Akers did the same for Mingo, adding 14 rebounds to go along with her 13 points.
Baker, who stole five passes, scored a game-high 20 points for East, finishing 9 of 12 from the field with all of her field goals coming at the rim.
“I said it early in the season and I don’t remember who I was talking to, but I think Abi Baker is the best player in the state that nobody talks about,” Davidson said. “I think she’s been that way for a while. It’s just now she’s confident in her game where she worked so hard in the summer. She can finish with both hands now that Euro step late in the game, she didn’t have that in her game last year. But now, good luck trying to chase her and then have to deal with that on the backside. So I think that her playing off of Cadee, because Cadee’s taking over that leadership role has been huge.”
East heads into Christmas with just one loss despite playing five of its six games against teams ranked in the top 10 of Class AA or AAA in the AP poll. The Lady Warriors will be off for a week before facing Winfield on Dec. 28 in the Winter Classic at Summersville.
MC: 2 10 11 15 – 38
WE: 14 17 14 18 – 63
Mingo Central
Addie Smith 10, Grimmett 8, Akers 13, Bailey 5, Bradford 2
Wyoming East
Cadee Blackburn 13, Kyndal Lusk 10, Abi Baker 20, Alivia Monroe 14, Gabby Cameron 3, Rylee Brown 3
