WINFIELD, W.Va. — An 11-0 first quarter run and clutch free throw shooting in the fourth quarter propelled South Charleston past Winfield, 51-47.
The Black Eagles jumped out to an 11-2 lead four minutes into the game and held off several Winfield runs to improve to 12-3 on the season. The Generals fell to 15-2 with both losses coming against ranked Class AAA opponents.
“We’re young, so we have to know how to fight through all the grit and grind,” said South Charleston assistant coach Ahmed Witten. “That is going to help us out in the long run. If we keep playing our way to the state championship, we have been in those situations. It won’t be new to us.”
South Charleston took the court without head coach Gary Greene. He missed the game due to a family illness.
“This is a big win for Coach Greene and his family,” Witten said. “This is for him. This is deep. This is more than basketball right now. We’re going to take this win, we love this win but this is more his family. We hope his wife gets better.”
Malhia Witten scored 7 of her team-best 19 points in the first quarter. “When we played them the first time, they played off her a little bit. She knew she could get to the lane a little bit, pull up and she worked on it. We were going to use our mismatches.”
The Black Eagles led 19-11 after the first eight minutes and extended that lead to 32-21 at halftime. The Generals trimmed the deficit to four points early in the third quarter and three points late in the fourth but South Charleston held on down the stretch. The Black Eagles were 8 of 10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
The Generals defeated the Black Eagles 63-59 on December 20th. But in this contest, South Charleston held the Generals to a season-low point total. “Our defense stuck together and they didn’t quit on ‘D'”.
Z.Z. Russell led the Generals with 19 points and Lauren Hudson added 13.