Charleston – Two years ago in the Class AA championship game, Wyoming East saw a nine-point lead dwindle to two in the second quarter.
With Parkersburg Catholic closing and trapping all-stater Skylar Davidson in an effort to get the ball out of her hands, East needed somebody to step up.
One of the team’s other veterans, junior Hannah Blankenship, was happy to do so. She nailed a pair of 3s in that second quarter and finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds in what turned out to be an important performance as the Lady Warriors won 61-50.
Saturday evening in the 2023 Class AA title game, Abby Russell and Colleen Looakbill were this year’s Hannah Blankenship. Lookabill averaged 3.9 points per game this year while Russell, a former all-stater before knee injuries, averaged 6.3 when she was able to play.
The pair combined for 25 points in Saturday’s win against Summers County and the moment was never too big for them.
But the spark may have come from a bond and promise the two best friends make with each other before each game.
“We made a promise before every game that we were actually going to shoot the ball and try to contribute on offense,” Russell said.
“I hear it all the time,” Lookabill laughed.
Russell, once a more complete scorer, has had to adjust her game more to accommodate her body. Lookabill, a hustle player, provided many of the key aspects Sarah Saunders once did for this same East program – muscle, defense and effort every time there was a loose ball. But she had to look for her shot as the East offense struggled at times this season.
Their newfound mentalities made the difference.
They made their presence known early Saturday as Russell scored the first points of the game with a 3 and Lookabill aggressively attacked the bucket for a layup shortly afterwards. Russell closed the quarter with another 3 and along the way Lookabill added a free throw. Their combined point total was nine after a frame in which East scored 15 points. It carried over to the second when Russell nailed another 3 and Lookabill added a long jumper from the top of the arc, bringing their combined total to 14 at the intermission and providing reinforcements for standout junior Maddie Clark.
Once again it happened in the third quarter.
Lookabill banked a 3 to open the half and Russell hit a floater to cap the third quarter.
Lookabill, a more reserved scorer than Russell, stayed aggressive in the the final frame with a pair of free throws and a another layup, capping her individual point total at 12.
Summers County’s plan coming in was to force somebody other than East’s leading scorers Cadee Blackburn and Maddie Clark to beat them.
They did and it made them unstoppable.
“I watched (Lookabill) shoot in warmups and I thought, ‘Man, she’s really hitting those shots,'” Summers County head coach Chad Meador said. “Of course she wasn’t being defended but I think that’s what they do. They struggled a little bit at midseason and didn’t make some shots. They found a way. Anybody that plays Wyoming East knows that you’ve got to stop Clark and you’ve got to stop Blackburn. But when you try to do that aggressively then you’re digging into help. You dig into help and you’ve got to close out in a hurry and guess what? Lookabill make ’em and Russell makes ’em and then you’re like, ‘What am I going to do defensively?’ We were on our heels a lot because of those other players stepping up. That’s what great teams do.”
To Lookabill’s credit she had searched for her own shot more in the postseason, driving the lane and taking open jumpers, though still infrequently. But the sectional championship loss to the same Summers County team that East opened postseason play against was served as a reality check.
It proved an effective motivator.
“I think we feel like we lost a lot of people believing in us after we lost to Summers County after sectionals,” Lookabill said. “We knew it was either win or lose and go home. We have a lot of seniors on our team this year and we were not ready to go home. I think we came out today and were prepared to give it our all.”