Gallery by Heather BelcherĀ
In a game of stars Cabell Midland’s Josie Graves shined the brightest.
Graves poured in 16 points – nine in the second half – helping the Class A-AAAA Chick-fil-A All-Stars hold off the Class AAA-AA Jan Care All-Stars 73-70 Saturday afternoon in the Little General Stores Scott Brown Memorial Classic at Shady Spring High School.
Graves, who earned MVP honors, was one of four standouts on her team to score in double figures joined by George Washington’s Finley Lohan (12), Princeton’s Maddie Stull (14) and Liberty Harrison’s Emma Elliott who led all scorers with 17 points.
All of Graves’ second-half points came in the fourth quarter with her final four proving to be the difference in the contest.
“It was a great experience,” Graves said. “I enjoyed getting to meet all the other players and play with them when you usually play against them. I definitely enjoyed playing with Finley more than playing against her. We’ve always been great friends so I loved playing with her!”
The Class AAA-AA All-Stars had a chance to tie the game with 1.5 seconds left but the final heave, a deep three, was partially blocked securing the win for the Class AAAA-A squad.
Getting to that point took a strong effort from the Class AA-AAA stars who trailed by 12 with just under two minutes to go in the first half. Turning up the defense, they closed the gap to five at 40-35 at the break and used a 20-13 third quarter to take a three-point lead into the final frame. That’s where Graves did her best work, guiding her squad in crunch time.
The game itself brought many new faces together but served as a partial farewell for others. George Washington head coach Jamie LaMaster, who led the Class AAAA-A squad alongside Bo Miller (Spring Valley) and Adam Smith (Tygarts Valley), had the opportunity to coach Lohan one final time.
“One more game with Fin is really nice and one thing I’ll really take away from this,” LaMaster said. “I think I’ll get to see her again in the North-South game but it’s nice to have her, you know, just after the tournament in more of a relaxed environment. The most important thing here is to have fun, make some memories, maybe make some friendships that will last down the road.
“My favorite part of it is just getting to know these girls on another level. You see them on Hudl film, you see them in clips, the newspaper and online, but it’s always nice to meet them in person and get to know a little bit about them. What their future holds, where they’re gonna go to school and what they’re pursuing and all that they’re saying, that’s the most enjoyable part for me.”
LaMaster’s counterpart echoed those same sentiments.
Wyoming East head coach Ryan Davidson led the Class AAA-AA squad, coaching alongside his staff of Laken Toler and Austin Canada. The trio had the opportunity to coach their own star in Maddie Clark one more time along with numerous other players they faced one their way to back-to-back Class AA titles.
“That was a really cool experience to be able to get to know those kids in a different mode,” Davidson an alum of the ’95 game said. “It’s different than just hey, ‘I’m trying to stop that kid.’ They’re really good kids too and good people. And you can tell they come from good people. And I know they come from good programs because we’ve faced them. It’s a really nice honor to be able to coach in this.”
Clark, who finished with eight points, relished in the opportunity to reunite not only with Davidson and his staff but a few other familiar faces including Lincoln all-stater Ashlyn Riley.
“It meant a lot to be able to play for them again, because I started my career with Ryan and it felt good to end it with him,” Clark said. “During AAU me and Ashlyn developed this bond and we thought we would never get to play together again. So then when I was asked to play I immediately texted her asking if she was Ā playing and she was like, ‘I haven’t got asked,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, but you will,’ and it just means a lot to me.”
Another Wyoming County standout in Westside’s Kaitlyn Lester led the AAA-AA squad with 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting while Riley finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Summers County’s Gracie Harvey rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.
“Martina Howe, in the three-point contest she was lighting it up really nice and really impressed me,” LaMaster said of what he’ll take away from the day. “And then, you know, I’ve kind of got a history with Alaira Evans from the Jan Care team. She was a GW Patriot for her first two years but we’ve remained close and I’m awfully proud of her for coming down and playing in this game and then also moving on to the University of Charleston, so big things for her.”
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Lohan was the winner of the three-point competition with 18, besting Howe of Robert C. Byrd in the final round.