Beckley, WV -

Greenbrier East         19   06   07  10  =   42

Parkersburg South     19  17   16   12  =  64

South Scoring:  Bethany Harbour 6, Erica Shreeves 4, Allison Crislip 13, Taylor Phillips 8, Stacy Houser 6, Kelsey Griffith 4, Kayla Ayers 8, Ali Morris 6, Kim Stephens 9.

East Scoring:   Lynch 5, Curry 8, Crump 7, Cole 8, Bowling 10, Pierce 3, Long 1.

South Statistics:   Rebounds, 52 (Ayers 11);  Assists, 15 (Harbour 4, Crislip 3);  Steals, 16 (Phillips 3);  Blocks, 4 (Phillips 2);  Turnovers, 26;  Field Goal Shooting, 27-65 (42%);  3-Point Field Goal Shooting, 2-11 (18%);  Free-Throw Shooting, 8-13 (62%);  Total Fouls, 24.

East Statistics:  Rebounds, 23;  Assists, 8 (Cole 3);  Steals, 15 (Cole 5);  Blocks, 1;  Turnovers, 26;  Field Goal Shooting, 10-40 (25%);  3-Point Field Goal Shooting, 4-11 (36%);  Free-Throw Shooting, 18-30 (60%);  Total Fouls, 14.

 

Focused Patriots down Spartans 64-42 By Dan Stillwell, Register-Herald Sports Writer   Greenbrier East’s girls basketball team had a lot on its mind coming into the consolation game of the Mountain State Coal Classic. Parkersburg South, on the other hand, was focused. The result weren’t pretty. The young Spartans shot poorly, made uncharacteristic bad passes and were overwhelmed on the offensive boards as South rolled to a 64-42 victory Saturday. “Our kids are halfway tough, physically, but mentally, there was a lot of adversity and it showed big time today,” coach Jim Justice said. East (11-3) played without first-team all-state center Ashley Parker, who was forced out of Friday’s semifinal loss to Summers County because of illness. The 6-foot-3 junior is reportedly suffering from a virus and stomach problems. Without her, East had little inside presence. South outrebounded the Spartans 52-23, including 21-6 on the offensive boards. Forced to shoot outside against the tough Patriot defense, East was just 27-of-65 from the floor. “It was tough,” Justice said, “not only from the standpoint of they have to watch Ashley and it frees up the outside, but when you move 15 points (and nine rebounds, six blocks) out of your game, that hurts a lot, too.” The normally sharpshooting Spartans made just 2-of-11 of their trademark three-pointers. “We made them play a little faster,” Patriots coach Scott Stephens said. “It’s not the same team without Ashley. When she’s there they get the ball to the inside, and if you collapse on her, she kicks it to the backside.” While East struggled from the outset, falling behind 19-10, South (12-5) played with confidence. The Patriots were coming off a close loss to Huntington in the semifinals. “We haven’t lost two games in a row this year and we stressed we wanted to be focused,” Stephens said. “We wanted to put yesterday behind us and play our ‘A’ game.” South trailed once, 22-19 early in the second quarter. The Patriots responded with a 17-3 run and were never seriously threatened again. Forward Allison Crislip led a balanced attack with 13 points and seven rebounds. Reserve center Kim Stephens added nine points and seven boards while Kayla Ayers had eight points and 11 rebounds. All-state forward Taylor Phillips, hampered by foul trouble, still scored eight points and had three steals. East got 10 points from freshman forward Kelli McClung, eight points and five steals from sophomore guard Courtney Cole and eight points from junior guard Kiersten Curry. “Last night took a lot out of them. They played a tough Summers team and played without Ashley,” Justice said. “It was tough to see us mentally melt down, but you just move on. You hope it will make them stronger.” Stephens said his team is pulling for Parker to make a speedy recovery. “We’d like to have played against Ashley today,” he said. “I hope she’s doing fine. We’d like to see her in the state tournament. “Tell her Parkersburg South is rooting for her.”