GLENVILLE, W.Va. — Playing on consecutive days did nothing to slow down unbeaten Webster County, which continued its winning ways Tuesday with an 83-40 victory at Gilmer County.
One day after making a statement with a 71-52 win against Trinity, the Highlanders were dominant on both ends of the court in improving to 14-0 with the lopsided win over the Titans.
Webster County, which has won all 14 of its games by double digits, got off to somewhat of a slow start and didn’t score until a Pryce Gadd 3-pointer 3:25 into the action. Fortunately for the Highlanders, Gilmer County (1-12) had also yet to score, and the Titans managed only five first-quarter points, while Webster County closed the frame on an 11-0 run to hold an 11-point lead.
“I didn’t think it was as much of a letdown as we didn’t have a lot of legs,” Webster County coach Michael Gray said. “We played a hard game yesterday and Trinity is a really good team. We didn’t have legs, but these kids come to play and they played with a lot of heart and hustle. It started coming to them later in the game.”
Garrett Hamrick came off the bench to score six points in the opening quarter for the Highlanders, who upped their lead to 23-8 early in the second quarter on one of Tyler Gray’s four 3-pointers.
When Dorian Groggs connected from beyond the arc moments later, the Highlanders held a 28-10 advantage.
Webster County settled for a 37-21 halftime lead after attempting 20 more shots (43-23) than the Titans over the first two quarters. That was in large part due to turnovers as the Highlanders had only two compared to Gilmer County’s 13 at the intermission.
Gray opened the second-half scoring with a 3 and a layup, before Cole Taylor accounted for five straight points and Gadd’s conventional three-point play increased the lead to 54-23.
The Highlanders took a 65-27 advantage into the fourth quarter and continued to add to their lead.
“We have seven seniors and they’ve been playing together since they were small,” coach Gray said. “They know each other and know where everybody is at. We have good spacing and we have a lot of length. We’re not real big, but other teams always tell us our length is something. And we get after it and push the ball up the court. It’s just a great team to coach.”
Groggs’ 15 points led five players in double figures in the win. Gray and Drew Holcomb followed with 14 apiece, while Taylor and Gadd chipped in with 11 and 10, respectively.
Holcomb came down with 10 rebounds to record a double double, while Gadd dished out six assists.
“We used the motivation from last night and we knew that if we could beat that team then we can beat a lot of teams,” Holcomb said. “We just used that and went as hard as we can.”
Webster County finished the contest with 16 assists and only six turnovers. The Highlanders were also a near perfect 16-of-17 at the free throw line.
Ean Hamrick made three 3s and scored 11 points to lead Gilmer County in defeat. The Titans had 27 turnovers in their third straight loss since their only win of the season.