Bruce McKean
Contributing Writer
PCHS Varsity, 34
Charleston Catholic, 45
The Pocahontas County High School varsity Lady Warriors kicked-off a busy week of four basketball games with a rescheduled trip to Charleston Catholic’s beautiful hilltop facility on February 13. Senior all-stater Sarah Ryder wasted no time scoring 12 of our 14 points in the first quarter that included nailing two three-pointers. PCHS shocked the Irish by opening with a 9-2 run. Catholic recovered, but still trailed 9-14 after one quarter of play.
CCHS freshman Elizabeth Kay came off the bench and hit her second of two foul shots mid-second quarter when Ryder was called for fouling her, and that tied the score at 16-16. PCHS would never lead again in the game. Ryder got a second quick foul call, and that sent her to the bench. Catholic took the second frame 19-4 and the third 13-4, so PCHS trailed 41-22 going into the final frame. PCHS took the last canto 12-4, but it was too little and too late.
All 12 Lady Warriors saw action in the game in their only match up this season. These two teams have played 12 times since 2007, and CCHS leads the series 9-3.
The officials in Monday’s game called only three fouls on the home team and eight on their guests, and most of the fouls were whistled in the second half. Ryder hit all four of our team’s foul shots, and Catholic made only one of their six foul shots.
Ryder was game-high scorer with 24 of our team’s 34 points, and she pulled down five rebounds. Six PCHS points came from our bench and four from our two starting freshmen.
Catholic improves to 12-8, and PCHS drops to 10-9 and stays at 4-5 in the PVC. CCHS received the #2 seed in our section and defeated #7 seed Webster County NN-NN in Saturday’s 7 p.m. game at Oak Hill. CCHS then played Midland Trail in the Section 1 semi-finals on Tuesday.
PCHS Varsity, 75
Webster County, 26
The Webster County Highlanders came to Dunmore February 15 to play PCHS a second time this season on Senior Night and to try to improve on the 20-67 loss they suffered in Upper Glade on January 25. WCHS did not count on senior Mary Kelley, who had already scored 299 points this season going into the game, having her career scoring game of 32 points, which is now fourth highest in school history. The 32 points in a game ties the points career scoring record of Jennifer Young achieved in 1993 at Class AAA Greenbrier East. The three athletes ahead of Kelley and Young are #1 Chloe Bland – 38 on 12/22/11 vs James Monroe, #2 Shari Vance – 36 in 1985 vs Webster County and #3 Mindy Sharp – 34 on 2/17/06 at Webster County.
Kelly scored from six to 10 points in each quarter and hit five threes in the game. Her season threes total jumped to 58 which put her at third in school history behind #1 Shelby Snead – 68 threes in 08-09 and #2 Tristan Day – 60 in 13-14. Ryder tallied 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Freshman Laila Calhoun came off the bench and added nine points and 12 rebounds, just short of a double-double. Senior Lindsey Hartzell tallied 11 boards and six assists while senior Brittney Sharp scored six points and accounted for five assists and seven rebounds. Freshman Alexa Taylor had four steals and three deflections on defense.
PCHS grabbed 50 rebounds to 24 for WCHS. The Warriors committed 15 turnovers to 24 for the Highlanders. Webster drops to 2-16, and PCHS improves to 11-9.
PCHS Varsity, 39
Moorefield Varsity, 51
The second meeting between Moorefield and PCHS at Moorefield February 16 started just like their first meeting at PCHS with a 9-9 tie after one quarter of play. Their score after one in the first game was 10-10, and that game on January 6 ended in a 55-43 PCHS victory. Six MHS players would score in the second quarter this time around while only three Warriors connected for PCHS, and the YellowJackets led 24-14 at the half. That 10-point lead improved to 12 points by game’s end with a 51-39 MHS win.
Head Coach Mike Kane wants more of his players to up their scoring, so he was happy that freshman Charity Warder improved on her game and was team high scorer with 15 points. Warder scored in every quarter, hit five of seven free throws, tallied six rebounds and grabbed two steals. Ryder added another double-double to her résumé with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
MHS improved to 11-11 and 7-6 in the PVC. PCHS dropped to 11-10 and 4-6 in the PVC.
Region 3 Section 1 Quarterfinal
PCHS Varsity, 48
Richwood Varsity, 36
The Lady Warriors traveled to Oak Hill High School, the neutral site of all of the 2017 Section 1 games.
PCHS hosted #5 seed Richwood in the first of three Section 1 games on February 18.
The first quarter of Saturday’s game featured two ties and six lead changes, and Kelley hit three straight three-pointers while RHS senior Erica Lawrence hit three two-pointers. Going into the second period, PCHS led 13-11. Ryder got her first two fouls in the first period, so she again had to head to the bench. The second frame saw three ties and six lead changes, and Warder scored six points. PCHS was called for 11 fouls to only five fouls on Richwood in the first half, and RHS received 12 foul shots to one for PCHS in just the second period. Four lady Warriors had two calls each on them to only one Ladyjill with two calls. At half-time PCHS led by five, 26-21.
The evenness of the foul calling improved the second half with PCHS still getting more calls, 8-6. The energy of the two teams changed dramatically after the half, and PCHS exploded for a 13-1 run to start the second half. Hartzell scored seven points, including her second three of the game. After three quarters of play, PCHS led 44-27. Coach Kane had his girls slow the game down, and Richwood took the fourth frame 9-4 for the 48-36 PCHS win.
Hartzell picked the right time to have her career scoring game of 14 points that was also the game high. Hartzell also tallied eight rebounds, and three assists. Kelley was next with 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Warder scored eight points and tallied six rebounds and three deflections. Ryder totaled seven points and five rebounds. Taylor accounted for six points, five defensive rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
