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Greenbrier East slows South Charleston for spot in state tournament

Greenbrier East’s Emma Dotson looks to drive by South Charleston’s Genevieve Potter.

 

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Greenbrier East used multiple defensive looks to slow South Charleston, as the Spartans went on the road Tuesday and secured their spot in the state tournament with a 53-43 victory over the Black Eagles.

The Spartans, who improved to 21-4 with the win in the Class AAA Region III co-final, are the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 Martinsburg in a quarterfinal next Thursday.

“Four teams in this region are all deserving to go. It’s a blessing that we’re one of the two going,” Greenbrier East head coach Jim Justice said. “South Charleston has a great program and a great coach. We switched defenses a lot and we do that almost every game. It worked out tonight.”

Greenbrier East held the Black Eagles (17-7) to 5-for-32 shooting over the first half and 14-of-56 (25 percent) for the contest. The Spartans mixed up defenses and despite often applying fullcourt pressure, relied heavily on a zone to stymie SCHS in the halfcourt.

Twenty-five of South Charleston’s field goal attempts came from three-point range, including 15 of its 32 shots in the opening half.

“That’s the most physical team we’ve played all year,” SC head coach Gary Greene said. “Their size gave us some trouble and their bigger kids can take the ball off the dribble. We didn’t play one of our better games, but give East some credit for that. They made us play a little faster. We play fast, but we didn’t execute.”

After the Black Eagles took a 16-15 lead on Maliha Witten’s three-pointer in the second quarter, the Spartans reeled off seven straight points as part of a 9-3 run to end the half with a 24-19 advantage.

Amya Damon, who led GEHS with nine first-half points and 19 for the game, got the surge started with two free throws. Kate Perkins scored on a pair of baskets inside, and in between, the Spartans’ Cadence Stewart hit one of her two treys.

“We knew if we wanted to make it to states that we had to work as a team to get everything done,” Damon said. “That was our mentality going into the game.”

Damon and Emma Dotson combined for the Spartans’ first seven points of the second half, but SC guard Myra Cuffee scored her team’s first points to keep the Black Eagles well within striking distance.

However, Stewart’s second triple started an 8-0 run that ended with Dotson’s conventional three-point play and GEHS leading, 39-27.

Cuffee answered with a three and the Black Eagles ended the period on a 7-1 run to face a six-point deficit entering the fourth.

The only time South Charleston got the deficit inside of six over the final quarter came on a Genevieve Potter three that made it 44-39.

The Black Eagles made only one more field goal the remainder of the contest, whiched allowed the Spartans to get by despite making only 2-of-8 free throws over the final 1:24.

“We led the whole game and it was great to have the lead, but it’s like having a two-shot lead with two holes to play in a golf tournament,” Justice said. “We kept throwing it away and missing foul shots. We could’ve broken it wide open, but that’s a tribute to the other team giving it all they have non stop.

“It’s hard to win here. I’ve played a lot of games at South Charleston and I haven’t won many.”

Damon added eight rebounds and four assists, while Dotson scored 10 points. Haley McClure nearly registered a double double and finished with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Cuffee scored 19 points, but was SC’s only player in double figures. Witten had a team-high eight boards.





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