FAIRLEA, W.Va. — Woodrow Wilson dominated in the paint and used a strong third quarter surge to defeat Greenbrier East 78-55 in the Class AAA, Region III, Section 2 title game. The Flying Eagles will host George Washington in the regional round Tuesday while the Spartans will have to hit the road for South Charleston.
Five players scored in double figures for Beckley (17-6). They were led in scoring by Cloey Frantz’s 18 points. Liz Cadle scored 16 and freshman Keanti Thompson added 10.
WWHS’ post players had their way on the inside. Jamara Walton scored a dozen points while Victoria Staunton had a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards.
“We feel like that is our strength even though we have some great guards,” said Woodrow Wilson head coach Brian Nabors. “We have to go inside for us to be successful and we have to go inside-out. I am just proud that our bigs stepped up and did exactly what we told them to do.”
Greenbrier East (20-4) led 15-14 after the first quarter but Beckley surged ahead in the second and took a 39-30 halftime lead. East closed within seven points early in the third quarter but a 9-0 run later in the frame gave Beckley a double-digit lead that they would never relinquish.
“The key to the third quarter was just keeping our heads,” Nabors said. “We stayed locked in and we didn’t want to look back. We just set a goal that we weren’t going to allow them to make any runs. And if they made a run, we were going to withstand it with our defense. And we did that.”
The Spartans were led by Haley McClure’s 20-point effort. Amya Damon added a dozen points.
These teams split their regular season meetings. The Flying Eagles were defeated 46-40 on February 11th after an altercation with fans brought the game to an early end with about six minutes left to play.
“We felt like the last game we played that we didn’t get a fair shake and it was just unfortunate,” Nabors said. “They were really anxious to come out and prove that we could win this game.”