On Friday night, the Summers County girl’s basketball team will have a chance to make history, once again. The Lady Bobcats are currently sitting at 99 consecutive wins and will try and hit triple digits when they take on Webster County.
Summers County and veteran head coach Wayne Ryan are coming off its fifth consecutive state championship. They’re the first girl’s basketball team in West Virginia history to accomplish that feat.
The Bobcats are off to a 3-0 start this season and are very different from last year’s squad. Summers County lost All-State performers Hallie Gunnoe, Leslie Mack and Hanna Gunnoe, who have all gone on to play college ball at High Point University.
Now it’s senior Candace Brown leading the Bobcats this season. The talented senior has gotten off to a hot start and recorded an impressive triple-double in SCHS’s dominant victory against James Monroe. Brown had 34 points, 16 rebounds and 15 steals.
Injuries and various circumstances have kept some players off the court for the Bobcats and they’ve had to bring up some JV players to fill holes in the roster. Regardless of the experience level, the fast tempo SCHS plays with has helped Summers County dominate in its first three games winning by the scores of 73-30 (Bluefield), 82-33 (James Monroe) and 78-48 (Greenbrier West).
Coach Ryan says the success they’ve had the last five years and having the chance to win 100 consecutive games is something his team has worked very hard for.
“We’re very fortunate to able to accomplish what we’ve done to this point,” said Ryan. “We have just a gifted group of kids that have come through here the last three years. They’ve been exceptional.”
“We’ve challenged them to a sub goal off winning 100 games in a row,” continued Ryan. “Let’s get that done for the legacy of the program. That would be something very special and something you can hang your hat on for the program. It does mean a lot to us.”
According to Ryan, there are less than ten high school basketball teams in the nation that have ever won 100 consecutive games. No school in West Virginia has ever accomplished the feat. The Bobcats haven’t lost since the 2007-08 season when Parkersburg South defeated them.
Ryan remembers that game clearly and says that loss is one of the things that helped spark this historic winning streak.
“I remember the last lost very well because we had a miserable first half against Parkersburg South and they took it to us pretty good,” explained Ryan. “I remember I had some pretty tremendous basketball players on that team.”
“After that things kind of took off,” continued Ryan. “We finished the last 12 that year and won that state championship. Of course the last three years have been very special. In fact, we can still go undefeated.”
Going undefeated and winning a state championship is one of the many goals the new look Bobcats have this season, but first they will concentrate on winning the programs 100th consecutive game.