Bruce McKean
Contributing Writer
Tygarts Valley 39 @ PCHS 66
Tygarts Valley and PCHS both start three seniors and neither team has a height advantage. The Lady Bulldogs surprised the PCHS faithful on January 14 with a strong first period marked by three ties, and TVHS led 9-7 at the end of one.
The second stanza started with three ties, and with 3:01 to go in the second quarter and the score 20-15 PCHS, starting point guard Melissa Murphy fell ill and had to leave the gym. Bobbie McNabb scored nine points including two threes in the quarter to give PCHS the 24-18 lead at the half.
TVHS Coach Mike DiPasquale was ejected with two technicals at the end of the second quarter and will not coach in two more games for hotly contesting a call as he walked to the dressing room. McNabb shot the four foul shots to start the third quarter and made two of them. Sarah Ryder and Tristin Day started scoring in the third and helped McNabb get control of the game. The third quarter ended 42-26 for PCHS.
PCHS went on a 13-point run in the fourth canto starting when the score was 51-38 and ending with a 64-38 PCHS advantage. PCHS improved their field goal shooting each quarter from 16 percent in the first to 40 percent in the final stanza.
McNabb was game high scorer with a double-double of 21 points, including four threes, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Ryder got all 16 of her points in the second half. Melissa Murphy left the game with eight points, and Day got her eight points all in the second half. Mary Kelley and Tiffany Hoover came off the bench and got seven points and six assists respectively.
Tygarts Valley dropped to 2-7. Caitlin Murphy led TVHS with 11 points and six rebounds.
PCHS 61 @ Pendleton County 50
Two days later, on January 17, the Lady Warriors traveled to Franklin, the scene of a “mugging” the previous year, to face sectional foe Pendleton County. Coach Kane had scouted the team and worried about their height and reach advantage.
PCHS led 11-9 after one period and both squads shot six foul shots. By the half, PCHS had increased their lead to 26-22, shooting 12 foul shots to only three for Pendleton.
The barrage of fouls and foul shots continued with Pocahontas shooting six in the third to none for the home team. After three periods PCHS was up 41-29. By the end of the game, the refs would call 28 fouls on the Lady Wildcats and only 13 on the Lady Warriors. Pocahontas hit 27 of 42 and Pendleton hit just five of 16, the difference in the game.
Ryder was game high scorer with a double-double of 17 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and seven of 12 foul shooting. Day was right behind with 16 points, four steals including seven of 10 foul shooting and three treys. Bobbie McNabb put up 10 points, seven rebounds plus four blocks. PCHS went from 20 percent shooting in the first quarter to 36 percent in the second half.
Senior Megan Keller led the Wildcats with 13 points, followed by sophomore Haley Hartman with 11 points. Pendleton dropped to 5-7.
Charleston Catholic 43 @ PCHS 36
The #5 Lady Warriors would entertain #9 Charleston Catholic, a very tall team, the next day at 2 p.m.. A good crowd enjoyed a contest that was close until the final seconds.
Day would hit two threes, and Ryder would score four points in the first quarter that was marked by two lead changes and two ties. 6’1″ Irish senior Catherine Bandak started quickly with seven points to lead Catholic to the 11-10 advantage at the end of one. Bandak had been out the last two seasons with injuries and some games this season due to a car accident. The biggest Irish lead in the first was four points.
Ryder hit the first basket of the second quarter, and PCHS would never trail the next two quarters. The Warriors’ biggest lead in those two quarters was seven points. The half ended 24-21 PCHS, and the third ended in a 30-30 tie when CCHS 5’11” sophomore Vida Imani hit a three at the buzzer. Imani did not score in the first half. McNabb sat on the bench in pain during half-time with ice on her neck after a hard fall at the end of the half, but returned in the third.
Four Lady Warriors played the point guard position as the Murphy twins saw limited action due to the recent car accident. Kayleigh Arbogast was back after being on the injured list for two games. All ten 
regulars shared the load in this team effort.
Catholic hit a two, and Day matched it for a 32-32 tie to start the fourth period. The last PCHS lead was 34-33, but would come within one point three more times. With the score 36-37 CCHS, Catholic went on a 6-0 run of three twos and won the game 36-43, their biggest lead of the game.
Although Catholic has three six footers and two 5’11” players on their roster, PCHS won the rebounding contest 30-26. A couple of PCHS turnovers at the end, probably due to exhaustion from two tough games in two days, plus 23 percent shooting in the second half hurt the Warriors.
Bandak was everywhere and finished with 26 points and nine rebounds, and Imani put up nine points and 10 rebounds. Day tallied 14 points; Ryder had a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, and McNabb finished with 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks plus three points. Hoover played part of all four quarters and dished out five assists.
For comparison, CCHS beat Class AAA #7 Greenbrier East (11-2) on Thursday by 17 points, 49-32 in Charleston. The Irish improve to 4-7 and have a very tough schedule. PCHS drops to 11-3.
PCHS travels to #3 Tucker County on Wednesday, January 21, and the JV game begins at 5:45 p.m., followed by the varsity game.
