WILLIAMSTOWN - Host Williamstown made a first-quarter statement, then made a shambles of Thursday night's Class A Region IV girls basketball game by halftime en route to a 63-38 besting of Charleston Catholic to earn a spot in next week's state tournament.
The statement was an emphatic 29-8 first-quarter romp as head coach Fred Sauro had his team's running offense revved up to go right from the start with the Yellowjackets scoring the game's initial five points and 18 of the first 22 to lead 18-4 at the 4:36 mark.
Kenzie Smith tallied Williamstown's first nine points in the contest, then Kathleen Cornell with five and Lauren Amos with four split the next nine, after which Brooke Cieslewski gunned in three straight treys and Sami Rea scored at the quarter buzzer.
Article Photos
Photo by Jeff Baughan
Williamstown's Kenzie Smith, center, is sandwiched between Charleston Catholic's Samantha Fletcher, left, and Simon Assaley as they chase a rebound Thursday during their regional tournament game in Williamstown. The Yellowjackets qualified for next week's state tournament in Charleston with the 63-38 victory.
''We thought getting off to a real good start would be very, very crucial,'' said Sauro, ''because we didn't want Charleston Catholic to get into their halfcourt sets because they're pretty good at it.
''I really liked our fast break tonight, and we came out and shot it well to begin with (11-of-16 in the first quarter) to stake us to the big lead, and that helped more than anything, The fast start was what we wanted.''
The second stanza saw the 'Jackets extend their advantage at one point to 30 at 42-12 with a minute left to pretty much effectively wrap up the win with a unconquerable 42-14 lead at intermission.
Fact Box
Class A, Region I
Championship Game
at St. Marys
St. Marys 70, Magnolia 29
Magnolia 7 10 5 7-29
St. Marys 12 14 19 23-70
MAGNOLIA (11-13)
Mallory Chapman 4 3-4 11, Kiera Standiford 0 1-2 1, Audrey Gibb 0 3-4 3, Katie Blatt 1 0-1 2, Grace Berisford 4 0-0 10, Abby Durig 0 0-0 0, Anna Gibb 1 0-0 2, Cierra Fowler 0 0-0 0, Lusa Pata 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10 7-11 29. 3-Point Goals: Berisford 2.
ST. MARYS (23-1)
Michaela Britton 4 2-2 11, Dani Moore 2 0-0 4, Abby Fetty 5 4-4 17, Kendra Walker 6 0-0 12, Audra Clark 3 3-4 9, Ashley Hall 5 2-2 16, Haley Everett 0 0-0 0, Sara Fetty 0 0-0 0, Rachel Miller 0 1-2 1, Alyssa Fetty 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 12-14 70. 3-Point Goals: Britton 1, A. Fetty 3, Hall 4.
GAME STATS
MAGNOLIA: Shooting: 10 of 46 for 22 percent. Rebounds: 27 (Chapman 7). Assists: 3 (Blatt 2). Steals: 7 (Berisford 3). Turnovers: 19
ST. MARYS: Shooting: 25 of 61 for 41 percent. Rebounds: 48 (Walker 15, Clark 14). Assists: 12 (A. Fetty 5, Hall 3). Steals: 14 (Moore 5, Walker 3). Turnovers: 13.
NEXT GAME: St. Marys advances to the Class A state tournament at the Charleston Civic Center beginning on Wednesday. The opponent for the Blue Devils will be announced at the coaches meeting at noon on Sunday at the WVSSAC office on W.Va. 47.
Class A Region IV
at Williamstown
No. 13 Williamstown 63,
Charleston Catholic 38
Catholic 8 6 14 10 - 38
Williamstown 29 13 14 7 - 63
CHARLESTON CATHOLIC (9-16)
Payton Mullen 0 0-0 0, Anna Whelan 1 2-2 4, Samantha Hoyer 0 0-0 0, Raegan Palmer 3 0-0 6, Samantha Fletcher 5 5-6 16, Alex Persily 0 0-0 0, Simone Assaley 4 0-0 8, Gina Marks 0 0-0 0, Christina O'Dell 2 0-0 4, TOTALS: 15 7-8 38. 3-point goals: Fletcher 1
WILLIAMSTOWN (14-9)
Jessie Kerns 1 0-0 2, Kenzie Smith 3 4-6 11, Heather Albertson 0 0-0 0, Cami Mossor 0 0-0 0, Carley Ellison 4 3-4 11, Kathleen Cornell 3 2-2 9, Laura Petty 0 0-0 0, Sami Rea 1 0-2 2, Allie Robinson 0 0-0 0, Brooke Cieslewski 5 0-0 15, Andrea Chidester 1 0-0 2, Lauren Amos 4 3-5 11, Carli Harlan 0 0-0 0, Melissa Cieslewski 0 0-0 0, TOTALS: 22 12-19 63. 3-point goals: Smith 1, Cornell 1, B. Cieslewski 5
Next game: Williamstown advances to state tournament next week at Charleston Civic Center Coliseum
Class A, Region IV
Huntington St. Joe 73,
Parkersburg Catholic 45
PCHS 9 13 6 17 - 45
St. Joe 19 21 17 16 -73
PARKERSBURG CATHOLIC (15-8)
Kimberly Samolitis 0 0-0 0, Ellen Roedersheimer 1 0-0 2, Maddie Roedersheimer 1 1-2 3, Rachel Nill 2 1-2 7, Kate Clowes 0 0-0 0, Leah Hughes 6 2-2 16, Erica Tracewell 0 0-0 0, Meaghan LaBarre 0 0-0 0, Reily Sturm 0 2-4 2, Meredith Koerber 0 0-0 0, Alex Schaffer 5 1-2 15, Elizabeth Wells 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 15 7-12 45. 3-point goals: Schaffer 4, Hughes 2, Nill 2
HUNTINGTON ST. JOE (22-1)
Chelsea Gale 0 0-0 0, Griffin Dempsey 5 0-0 12, Mychal Johnson 9 1-3 22, Courtney Anderson 0 0-0 0, Mychelle Johnson 5 0-0 13, Kara Jeffrey 2 0-0 4, Caitlin Gale 0 0-0 0, Diana Disu 0 0-0 0, Rachel Lee 1 0-0 2, Asia Petitte 5 10-14 20. TOTALS 27 11-17 73. 3-point goals: Mychal Johnson 3, Dempsey 2, Mychelle Johnson 3
Rebounds: PCHS 20 (M. Roedersheiemer 6). Assists: PCHS 11 (M. Roedersheimer 4, Nill 4); Steals: PCHS 10 (Nill 4). Turnovers: PCHS 25.
District semifinal
At Steubenville High School
Fort Frye 65, Ridgewood 38
Fort Frye 14 25 15 11 - 65
Ridgewood 12 7 8 11 - 38
FORT FRYE (22-3)
Natalie Hart 0 0-0 0, Lexi Skinner 0 0-0 0, Shawntell Parsons 0 2-2 2, Brooke Borich 5 1-2 14, Micayla Hupp 4 0-0 8, Morgan Liedtke 4 0-0 12, Taylor Buchanan 8 1-2 17, Deidra Combs 5 2-2 12, Megan Liedtke 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 6-8 65. 3-point goals: Mo. Liedtke 4, Borich 3
RIDGEWOOD (13-12)
Kayla Finton 0 0-0 0, Emily McCoy 1 0-0 2, Morgan McDorman 0 0-0 0, Brittany Guilliams 0 0-1 0, Erica Olinger 0 0-0 0, Baylee Haynes 0 0-0 0, Laura Frazee 2 0-2 4, Samantha Wilson 1 0-0 2, Amanda Lowery 6 1-2 13, Kelsey Miller 7 2-7 17. Totals 17 3-12 38. 3-point goal: Miller 1
Shooting: FF 26-51 (51%), RW 17-32 (53%); Rebounds: FF 19 (Buchanan 7, Combs, Me. Liedtke 4), RW 20 (Miller 7, Frazee 4); Assists: FF 15 (Mo. Liedtke 4, Buchanan, Combs 3), RW 4; Steals: FF 16 (Combs 5, Mo. Liedtke 4), RW 6 (Frazee 4); Turnovers: FF 13, RW 29
Next game: Fort Frye vs. West Muskingum/Indian Valley (District final) Saturday at 7 p.m. at Steubenville
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West Virginia Class AA
State Tournament Parings at
the Charleston Civic Center
Thursday
9:30 a.m. - #3 Nicholas County vs. #6 North Marion
1 p.m. - #2 Bridgeport vs. #7 Lincoln
5:30 p.m. - #1 Westside vs. #8 PikeView
9 p.m. - #4 Clay County vs. #5 Fairmont Senior
Friday
11:15 a.m. - 3/6 winner vs. 2/7 winner
7:15 p.m. - 1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winners
Saturday
2:30 p.m. - State championship
But still Williamstown came out and started the second half with an 11-0 run to surge ahead by 39 at 53-14 at 5:06 of the third period, before Samantha Fletcher got hot for Catholic with 12 points in the final five minutes of the quarter to pull her team within 26 points with 1:12 left as the period ended as a 14-14 draw.
Catholic took the fourth quarter 10-7 to finish only 25 points behind on the scoreboard.
Cieslewski netted 15 points on five treys to top the Williamstown (14-9) scoring, followed by Smith, Carley Ellison and Amos with 11 apiece, and Cornell with nine.
For Catholic (9-15), Fletcher led with 16 points, while Simone Assaley added eight.
''We are tickled to death to go back (to the state),'' said Sauro, who will take his eighth team to the state tournament in his 28 years at the Yellowjacket girls cage helm with a state title in 2003.
Without the graduated Liz Flowers this season,''a lot of people didn't give us much of a chance to go back this year,'' he said. ''But we have a great bunch of seven seniors, and through good times and some bad times too this season, they've really persevered.''
