CHARLESTON, W.Va. — University had a response for everything that came its way from Class AAA No. 2 Greenbrier East in Friday night’s semifinal.
Zoe Murphy and Mallory Napolillo scored 12 points apiece and the third-seeded Hawks held on for a 56-50 victory, earning a chance to play for their first Class AAA state championship in program history.
“I always value a win on how strong the opponent was and Greenbrier East was a strong opponent tonight,” University coach David Price. “Hats off to them, but I’m proud of these young ladies because they’ve worked hard to be here.”
University (22-5) goes for the title against No. 1 Parkersburg on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
The Hawks put together a strong start. Murphy’s 3-pointer was followed by Lauren Dean’s layup, before Murphy made another triple to stretch the Hawks’ advantage to 18-5 midway through the second quarter. By that point, Greenbrier East had made only 2-of-22 shots from the field.
“We kept telling ourselves we’re a game away from the state championship and we’re not going to let anything stop us from getting there,” Murphy said.
The Spartans (23-4) answered with an 8-0 run courtesy of four field goals from Haley McClure, who finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds.
The Hawks made 5-of-7 free throws over the remainder of the first half and limited Greenbrier East to one more field goal to lead 23-15 at halftime.
“They gave us a lot of opportunities and we shot the ball really bad,” Greenbrier East coach Jim Justice said.
Jenkins scored her team’s first five points of the third quarter and Murphy made a jumper moments later to up the lead to 30-20 at the 5:40 mark of the third.
Consecutive 3s from Emma Dotson, followed by McClure’s trey, turned a 10-point Hawks’ lead into a 30-29 game within 1:39.
University immediately answered with a 6-0 run courtesy of four points from Napolillo, and the Hawks entered the fourth quarter with a 40-33 advantage.
“You know they’re going to make runs and we’re going to make runs,” Price said, “and at that time we’re just trying to match their intensity and make our run go a little bit longer.”
Five points from Abbie Bartenslager to start the fourth pulled the Spartans to within two, but the Hawks scored the next five to regain their seven-point lead after Abbie Coen’s layup.
University led by at least five the rest of the way and made nine free throws over the final 3:01 to preserve the win.
“They shoot 32 free throws and we shoot 13, and we shoot 17-for-59. It’s tough to overcome that,” Justice said. “With those numbers, we should have lost by 100. For my players to hang in there and do what they did, I give them a lot of credit.”
Greenbrier East attempted 59 shots compared to the Hawks’ 38, but the Spartans made only one more field goal (17-16).
University scored 19 points from the free-throw line to help overcome its 23 turnovers.
Dean added eight points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with six steals in a reserve role.
“She’s long and athletic and very active in passing lanes,” Price said. “She got her hands on a lot of stuff and that was huge tonight.”
Ashten Boggs was held without a field goal in the win, but scored six points to go with a game-high 15 rebounds.