CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Class AA No. 2 Fairmont Senior secured a fifth straight trip to the girls basketball state tournament semifinals on Thursday, beating rival Bridgeport 65-41 from the Charleston Civic Center.
The Polar Bears (22-4) built an eight-point lead, 19-11, going into the second quarter and held a 32-25 advantage at the half. A 21-11 third quarter put the Polar Bears in complete control.
“We did a really good job with second half adjustments,” said Fairmont Senior coach Corey Hines. “We felt in the first half that we were missing out on opportunities – we thought we had an opportunity to get the game blown open early.
“We were trapping a little late in some of our pressing and we were a step slow,” Hines said. “We made a few adjustments in the second half and I was very happy with how the girls competed. These ladies did a wonderful job of executing in the second half and I was very proud of effort.”
Erica Bowles and Anysa Jordan paced the Polar Bears with Jordan scoring 27 points and 14 rebounds, and Bowles adding 23 points. The Polar Bears dominated the glass 47-22, picking up 27 of those rebounds offensively.
“I just tried to box-out first and that just cleared it up for me so that I could go up there and get it,” Jordan said. “I could have played better, but I guess it was working for me a little bit.”
Fairmont Senior scored 23 points off of 24 Bridgeport turnovers.
“It was just a case today where Fairmont Senior is so much more superior to us strength-wise,” said Bridgeport coach Dennis Hutson. “They’re pretty long and we couldn’t keep them off of the offensive glass. They got 30 more shots than we did today, so it would take a monumental task to overcome that.”
No. 7 Bridgeport (16-10) was led by Emily Riggs who scored 12 points.
Fairmont Senior will face No. 3 North Marion on Friday at 11:15 a.m. for a spot in the Class AA state championship game.