Bruce McKean
Contributing Writer
PCHS – 83
Tygarts Valley – 44
The Pocahontas County High School Lady Warriors hosted the Lady Bulldogs of Tygarts Valley High School and a big group of fans January 11.
PCHS senior Sarah Ryder came out strong and scored 13 points and grabbed four offensive rebounds in the first quarter. TVHS freshman Abby Lanham and sophomore Abby Harris each hit a three in the first frame. PCHS had an early 8-0 run, and the Warriors took the first stanza 22-10.
TVHS had its best effort in the second period with Lanham and Harris each nailing one and two threes respectively. Ryder’s 10 points and five boards kept PCHS in the quarter, and Pocahontas took it 16-14 for a 38-24 lead at the half. TVHS had one 8-0 run late in the period.
Two PCHS runs, 5-0 and 12-0, enabled the Warriors to take the third stanza 25-11 to up their lead to 63-35. Kelley got on the board in the quarter with 13 points.
Kelley led all players in the fourth frame with 10 points, and PCHS cemented the 83-44 win. PCHS improves to 5-4 and 2-2 in the PVC, while TVHS drops to 3-7 and also 2-2 in the PVC.
Ryder had her career scoring game with 31 points and 16 rebounds for the double-double. Ryder’s 31 points equals the fifth best scoring game in PCHS history that matches Miranda McNabb’s 31 points at Buffalo on February 4, 2012. New assistant PCHS girls basketball coach Chloe Bland holds the school record of 38 points in a Class AA James Monroe game held December 22, 2011.
Kelley totaled 23 points and a game-high five deflections. Harris of TVHS matched the 23 points and hit six threes in the game. PCHS out-rebounded TVHS 58-28 with freshman Charity Warder almost getting a double-double of nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Freshman Alexa Taylor matched the 10 rebounds and dished out five assists. Freshman Laila Calhoun put up 13 points and nine rebounds, just missing a double-double. Senior Lindsey Hartzell tallied seven boards and a game-high six assists. The three freshmen all had their career rebounding efforts. TVHS freshman Abby Lanham scored nine points, making three treys.
TVHS coach Nancy Lewis said her team has struggled at times since the loss of sophomore starter Courtney Haddix to a knee injury several games ago. PCHS junior Haley Bennett had to leave the game after hitting her head when she and a TVHS player collided with 2:45 to go in the game.
PCH – 43
Greater Beckley Christian – 40
PCHS traveled to Prosperity January 14 on a foggy and rainy day to face the Crusaders of Greater Beckley Christian. The small gym looks new, and there were new metal bleachers with three rows of seats on one side of the gym and a larger section of older wooden bleachers behind one basket. I enjoyed watching the game action close-up and right behind the basket.
Hartzell hit a field goal and two threes to lead all scorers in the first period. Warder grabbed three rebounds against their six foot top scorer, senior Lauren Smith, and Taylor had three deflections. The strong PCHS start resulted in a 16-8 lead as PCHS shot 40 percent from the field in the first frame.
GBC rebounded in the second period when PCHS shot only 22 percent over the second and third frames and made only five field goals. GBC freshman Grace Mitchell, number 00, stepped up her game and was on her way to being game-high scorer with 19 points including five threes. GBC took the second 15-5, and PCHS took the third 9-7. The game was tied at 30-30 going into the fourth frame.
Warder led the Warriors with five points and a strong defensive effort in the fourth quarter, and PCHS was happy to come away with the 43-40 win. The Crusaders missed several foul shots near game’s end that could have changed the outcome of the contest. The game was tied six times in the first half, and our biggest lead in the second half was five points at 43-38 late in the game. GBC’s biggest lead in the second half was by one point at 34-33.
PCHS improved to 6-4 while GBC drops to 5-7.
Ryder was PCHS high scorer with 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Hartzell and GBC senior Lydia Jordan were next with 11 points each. Kelley put up nine points and four deflections. Warder grabbed eight rebounds and sank six points. Taylor matched five points with five assists. The entire squad had a great defensive effort, and PCHS had a season-low of only nine turnovers versus 20 for GBC. The 20 PCHS rebounds was the lowest this season versus 25 for the Crusaders.
The Tucker County Mountain Lions, who are ranked #1 in Class A in two polls/rankings and #4 and #5 in the other two, will travel to PCHS Friday, January 20, for a 5:45 p.m. JV contest and a 7:30 p.m. Varsity game. Both the PCHS varsity girls and boys teams head to Van in Boone County Saturday, January 21, for games at 1 and 3 p.m. respectively. Richwood will bring their varsity girls team to PCHS on Tuesday, January 24, for a 6 p.m. rematch.