Parkersburg, WV - 

Parkersburg South 63, Parkersburg 33

South Scoring:   Harbour 4, Molinari 4, Meadows 2, Shreeves 2, Curry 5, Crislip 8, Wolfe 21, J. Stephens 17.

PHS Scoring:   Hixon 3, Lane 2, Hammell 2, Thompson 8, Kelley 3, Cobb 11, Dent 4.

South Statistics:   Rebounds, 28 (J. Stephens 11);  Steals, 17 (Molinari 5);  Assists, 18 (Crislip, Wolfe 5);  Turnovers, 14;  Field Goal Shooting, 25-56 (45%);  3-Point Field Goal Shooting, 6-16 (38%).

PHS Statistics:   Turnovers, 21;  Field Goal Shooting, 13-37 (35%);  3-Point Field Goal Shooting, 4-16 (25%).

Patriot girls win sectional crown

By STEVE HEMMELGARN

PARKERSBURG - An 0-for-any quarter can prove disastrous for a basketball team.

The seventh-rankled Patriots (15-8) took advantage of 0-for-9 Big Red shooting from the field in the initial eight minutes of play, holding PHS to a single free throw en route to a 15-1 lead and the impetus for a 63-33 victory that brought South within a win of a state tournament berth.

The Patriots, propeled point-wise by seniors Rachel Wolfe (21) and Jill Stephens (17) to go a perfect 3-0 against the Big Reds this season, will now face top-ranked Capital in the Region IV finals at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum.

Of course, it helped the South cause too that the Patriots jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:51 of the game while PHS, finishing at 11-12, couldn't buy a basket, either from the inside or outside. But that was to be only the start of the Big Reds' first-period woes.

Wolfe nailed one of her three treys in the game at the 3:55 mark for an 11-0 advantage before the lone PHS point in the quarter on a free throw by Ali Thompson (8 points) at 3:34.

But the next time the Big Reds scored was after Ashley Curry opened the second stanza with a trey for an 18-1 lead as Michelle Cobb, who led PHS with 11 points, canned a 3-ball from out beyond the top of the foul circle at 7:29 for their first field goal of the game.

The Big Reds got within 12 three times prior to South closing the first half on a 7-2 run on a Curry hoop, a Wolfe basket after an Allison Crislip (8 points) backcourt steal and then Crislip drilling a trey eight-tenths of second before the halftime horn for a 32-15 lead at intermission.

Despite PHS coming out with 4:45 left on the halftime clock to practice its shooting, the margin remained between 17 and 22 points throughout the third quarter until Wolfe's basket with 25.3 seconds left made it a 24-bulge, 49-25, going in the last period.

The lead reached 28 before a late 10-3 South spurt to close the game made the final spread 30.

South head coach Scott Stephens saw the difference in the game as ''our help defense tonight. We played great defense the whole game. They had a great plan - they took Jill out of the game doubling on her all night long. But that left somebody open and our kids made the threes in the first half to make 'em pay for it.''

Despite PHS' scoring problems in the first quarter, Big Red head coach coach Don Stansberry said the shots his team took ''weren't really bad shots either. They were rolling around the rim. But we came out with so much emotion though, that I think it hurt us. The kids were ready to play. But a couple missed shots and it just seemed to drain our confidence. The first quarter did the most damage, and we just never recovered after that.''

Stansberry said he ''never'' had a team of his endure the early shooting problems it went through Thursday night, and especially not scoring just one point in the first quarter. ''But it was kind of like the quicksand theory,'' he said. ''When one of us started sinking, then all of us started sinking too."