Charleston – Several of the faces for Wyoming East and PikeView are familiar ones to those that frequent the girls state tournament.
PikeView’s Anyah Brown and Hannah Perdue have made three consecutive trips to Charleston, sporting a 2-1 record in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
East senior Hannah Blankenship is no stranger to the bright lights herself, having played in six state tournament games after Wednesday’s 55-37 win over Charleston Catholic. In the games she’s logged minutes she’s 6-0 in her career with a state championship to her name. Of course the Lady Warriors lost the title game her freshman year, but she didn’t log a minute in that contest.
Despite the storied careers of those three it takes a village to reach Friday at the state tournament and Wednesday’s showing proved just that.
In East’s win over Catholic freshmen Alivia Monroe, Gabby Cameron and Cadee Blackburn logged a combined 23 minutes in the first half, scoring eight points as starers Kayley Bane and Maddie Clark dealt with foul trouble.
All three, along with sophomore Charleigh Price, gave the Lady Warriors exactly what they needed to stay afloat until the third quarter.
With the scored tied at 20 in the second quarter, Cameron scored on back-to-back buckets to break the tie for good. There were some warts as the quadruplet familiarized itself with the big stage but they were anticipated.
It was the first time East coach Angie Boninsegna had to rely on multiple freshmen to play that many meaningful minutes in a state tournament game since 2015 when eventual Mary Ostrowski winner Gabby Lupardus and all-stater Kara Sandy were leading their own semifinal charge.
East coach Angie Boninsegna reiterated she never worried.
“No, I knew the nucleus we had out there were going to hit them,” Boninsegna said when asked if she was nervous. “They played within themselves which I was really proud of. They didn’t try to do more than they could. Alivia played the guard area some and she’s not used to that but luckily we had Hannah in there to help balance it out. Gabby did a great job. I’ve got confidence in any kid I put out there. Sure we’re going to make mistakes, we’re going to make errors – we had way too many turnovers, but that’s okay. At this point we live another day.”
For PikeView’s group of sophomores that flanked Brown and Perdue it was much of the same story.
Sophomore Hannah Harden made her first field goal of the night as the final buzzer in regulation sounded, sending the Panthers to overtime where they dispatched of reigning Class AAA champion Nitro. She gained confidence, converting on another layup early in the overtime period that put PikeView up by two possessions. Nitro was never able to cut into the deficit afterwards.
Harden wasn’t the only underclassman to help will the Panthers to overtime. Brooke Craft scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds but drew the toughest defensive assignment along with Harden in trying to slow down Nitro’s bigs, led by the 6-foot-2 Emily Lancaster.
The sophomore duo held their own, combining for 11 offensive boards as the Panthers outscored Nitro 24-12 in the paint. Those extra possessions were the difference for a team that trailed 15-4 early, struggling to find a way around Nitro’s size.
“It’s always really difficult when you’re shorter than almost all of your opponents,” Craft said after the win. “But I have to trust everybody else. Like Anyah and Hannah (Perdue). I have to trust them on my backside to help me.”
Odds and Ends
- Speaking of Blankenship, she’s made herself at home in the Charleston Coliseum. In a venue known to take no prisoners in regards to shooting percentages – teams combined to shoot 33.3 percent from the floor in the 2019 tournament – Blankenship is a career 67 percent 3-point shooter (8 of 12) at the state tournament. She’s logged at least one attempt in six of the seven state tournament games she’s played in, making at least one trey in each of those six contests.
- On the topic of Wyoming County, kudos to the Board of Education for dismissing and canceling school this week for East and its feeder schools on the days the Lady Warriors have played. In the past the schools have pulled the kids into the auditorium to watch the state tournament games that have taken place during school hours but dismissing school and loading up pep busses brings another dimension. Not only does it show support for one of the most successful programs in the state but it helps inspire the next generation of Lady Warriors. I’ve written about it at length before but many of the players that are on this Wyoming East team were in middle and elementary school when the program won it’s first title in 2016. Blankenship, a sixth grader in 2016, remarked after last year’s championship win that she followed the bus all the way from Charleston to the Wyoming County line that season. Teaching extends beyond the classroom. As cliche as it sounds, showing those kids that they can set a goal and on day play in front of the state for a title is important as well.Â
- Both PikeView and Wyoming East spent the morning practicing at the South Charleston Community Center Thursday. The two teams were scheduled to play each other twice this season but weather and quarantines limited them to just one matchup. It was a stellar game with PikeView tying it in the second half but East ultimately overcame foul trouble to win. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was a matchup between two semifinalists that delivered. The two programs have had their history, battling in the regional round for years before the four class system was introduced last season. It was a nice sight as this year marks the first time since 2019 that two area teams have made it to the semifinal rounds (Greenbrier East and Wyoming East).
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on twitter @tjack94