CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Class AAA No. 5 South Charleston lived up to its label as a defensive-minded team Thursday, holding No. 4 Wheeling Park to 20 percent shooting to claim a 35-27 victory at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
“Our defense was solid for the better part of 32 minutes,” SC coach Gary Greene said. “If it means we score 10 pts and they score nine, I’m good with it.”
The Black Eagles (21-5) advance to Friday’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal against No. 1 Parkersburg.
While SC was at anything but its best offensively, the Black Eagles were able to build an early 10-2 lead that proved to be a big difference in the outcome. Myra Cuffee made a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter that helped create early separation.
Wheeling Park (18-6) scored the first four points of the second quarter but after an Emily Pavlic 3, the Patriots were held scoreless over the final 4:53 of the half.
Park’s defense did allow it to stay within striking distance as SC also managed only four second-quarter points, but the Patriots entered the intermission with only two field goals, 12 turnovers and facing a 14-6 deficit.
“Since the first day of practice, we’ve instilled that defense gets you into championships,” Greene said. “A fine example is today. These kids have been tremendous to coach and they’ve bought into it. We wouldn’t be here today without our defense.”
Park’s Shanley Woods made a pair of 3s in the first 2:35 of the second half to trim the SC lead to 16-12, but the Patriots made only one more field goal of the remainder of the quarter.
The Black Eagles, meanwhile, got at least one field goal from five different players in the third to build their lead back up to 27-17 ahead of the fourth quarter.
“We shot the ball off today compared to what we have all season,” Wheeling Park coach Ryan Young said. “That happens. The only thing we can control is how hard we play and these kids played their tails off.”
The Patriots didn’t go away quietly, however, and got consecutive treys from Pavlic and Woods to trim their deficit to 29-25 with 5:14 remaining.
But Park made only one more field goal the rest of the way — Pavlic’s layup with 4:13 remaining — as the Black Eagles closed on an 8-2 run to advance.
“They always had an answer,” Young said. “It felt like they made a play every time we crept back in the game and that’s what good teams do.”
The Patriots made only 8-of-40 field goals, including 3-of-19 two-point attempts.
Woods led Park with 13 points, while Pavlic scored eight in defeat.
Cuffee, Lavender Ward and Maliha Witten had eight points apiece in the win, while Lasahae Watts finished with seven points and 14 rebounds.
Watts’ play was instrumental in forcing Park out on the perimeter and allowing SC to out-rebound the Patriots, 39-27.
“They couldn’t get inside because of Lashae, so it was a pretty good job by us defensively,” Greene said.
The game was the lowest-scoring contest in the history of the Class AAA state tournament.
“We fired our offensive coordinator,” Greene joked, “so we need to find a new one before we go practice today.”