2003-2004 Patriot Basketball

Capital falls to Patriots' size

By JT Simms, Daily Mail

Wednesday March 03, 2004

There is a reason that David's defeat of Goliath is a classic story.

Because it really is rare for the little guy, or girl, to win.

Tuesday night all the mighty mites of fourth-ranked Capital could come up with to throw at the much taller Parkersburg South squad were a few small stones as the seventh-ranked Patriots eliminated the Cougars 67-41 in the Class AAA Region 6 final at the Charleston Civic Center.

South advances to the state tournament to face top-ranked South Charleston at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, March 11, at the Civic Center.

All-state 6-foot-3 junior Jill Stephens scored the first six points of the game and was only slowed by foul difficulties on her way to a game high 30 points and 14 rebounds.

The entire Capital squad could manage just 16 rebounds for the game.

"She is a force," Capital Coach Steve Freeman said. "She gets the ball and it goes in."

Stephens sank 12-of-17 field goal attempts.

With no starter over 5-7, the Cougars (19-5) gambled with a man-on-man defense at the beginning in hopes of pressuring South's guards and preventing them from feeding the ball into Stephens and 6-1 senior teammate Lauren Blair.

"We really wanted to pressure the guards and not give them good looks inside," Freeman said. "We just didn't get it done."

A similar man-for-man strategy worked earlier in the year for Class AA Winfield when the Generals upset the Patriots.

The quicker Capital guards simply could not keep South guards Heidi Floyd and Ashley Curry from hitting their twin towers with pass after pass.

"I thought we caught them off guard at the start with how fast we moved," Stephens said.

The Cougars did manage a mini-rally with an 8-1 run just before halftime to pull to within 29-28 at the break.

A 3-pointer by senior Jessica Burnette, who led Capital with 14 points, gave the Cougars their only lead of the game just 26 seconds into the third period.

The Patriots (16-8) then scored the next 11 points to retake control and Capital never got closer than six the rest of the way.

"We played good aggressive defense in the second quarter," Freeman said. "I don't know if we were tired or what but we couldn't reach that same intensity in the second half."

Meanwhile, with the exception of Burnette, the Cougars were having all kinds of problems getting the ball in the basket themselves. They sank just 28 percent of their attempts compared to a torrid 59 percent by their opponents.

Capital had a mere three offensive rebounds and lost the battle on the boards by a whopping 44-16 margin.

Class AAA Region 6 Championship

Parkersburg S. (16-8) FG 3FG FT Pts.

Stephens 12-17 0-0 6-10 30

Floyd 2-9 0-3 2-2 6

Curry 0-1 0-1 0-0 0

Blair 7-8 0-0 1-2 15

Harvey 3-6 3-5 3-4 12

Tackett 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Wolfe 2-3 0-0 0-0 4

Molinari 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Crislip 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Harbour 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Shreeves 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Gard 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Totals 26-44 3-9 12-16 67

Percentages .591 .333 .750

Capital (19-5) FG 3pt FT PT

Teel 2-7 1-5 2-6 7

Beatty 3-18 1-8 0-0 7

Cary 1-6 0-0 1-2 3

Burnette 5-11 4-8 0-0 14

Watts 0-1 0-0 0-0 0

Garland 5-11 0-1 0-2 10

Hall 0-2 0-1 0-0 0

Miller 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Booth 0-0 0-0 0-0 0

Totals 16-57 6-23 3-10 41

Percentages .281 .261 .300

Parkersburg South 22 7 19 19 -- 67

Capital 13 15 8 5 -- 41

Rebounds: PS 44 (Stephens 14, Blair 8, Floyd 7, Wolfe 6, Harvey 5); Capital 16 (Beatty 4, Watts 4, Cary 4).

Assists: PS 20 (Floyd 9, Curry 5); Capital 8 (Teel 5).

Turnovers: PS 17, Capital 7.

Stephens leads South to 67-41 romp over Capital

By Jim Workman, FOR THE GAZETTE

Parkersburg South knocked off No. 4-ranked Capital 67-41 Tuesday night in the championship game of the Class AAA Region 6 girls basketball tournament at the Civic Center.

The Patriots’ reward? A first-round state tournament matchup with No. 2 South Charleston.

“It’s a shame that we get that for an opening round,” said South coach Scott Stephens, whose team is ranked No. 6. “But we’re ready for whoever it is.”

The Patriots certainly looked ready, taking a 22-13 lead after one quarter. All-state junior center Jill Stephens netted 12 of her game-high 30 points in the opening period and finished with 14 rebounds.

“We pounded it inside,” said Scott Stephens. “That was our game plan. There’s no secret to what we do.”

South (16-8) got 15 more points from its other post player, Lauren Blair. Brittany Harvey was a force outside, nailing three 3-pointers in a 12-point effort.

The Patriots outscored Capital 19-8 in the third quarter and 19-5 in the fourth to pull away.

“We played hard, but our shots just didn’t fall for us,” said Capital coach Steve Freeman, who finished with a 19-5 record in his first season with the Cougars. “Stephens is a force. When she gets the ball, it’s going to go in. We couldn’t rebound either, and if you can’t do that, it’s hard to get a fast break going.”

Jessica Burnette led Capital with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Shawnice Garland added 10.