CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It took until the second half, but Fairmont Senior showed why it’s the top seed in Class AA at the state tournament.
After struggling throughout the first half and taking a 19-18 lead into the break, the No. 1 Polar Bears put together an aggressive and dominant third quarter to take control in a 50-32 win over No. 8 Bluefield at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
“Our intensity changed. We told them (at halftime) you have to learn to play through stuff,” Fairmont Senior coach Corey Hines said. “The message was there will be adversity and you have to keep playing.”
The victory sends FSHS into a Friday semifinal at 7:15 p.m. against No. 5 Frankfort.
Fairmont Senior (23-3) outscored Bluefield 14-1 during the third quarter to open up a 14-point lead ahead of the fourth quarter.
“Our defensive intensity turned up in the third quarter,” Hines said. “Anytime you hold a team like that to eight field goals, you have a great chance to win the game.”
Rebounding was the key factor for the Polar Bears, who scored nine points in the third off second-chance opportunities.
FSHS grabbed an astounding 32 offensive rebounds and 66 total boards, compared to only 27 for Bluefield.
Abby Faulkner, who led FSHS with 14 points, scored five in the third quarter, while Anysa Jordan scored four of her nine points in the frame, including a follow-up bucket on the Polar Bears’ fifth shot of a possession.
“We always try to go after it and that helped us a lot in this game because we weren’t making shots,” Jordan said. “I think in this game we wanted it more.”
Not until the Beavers’ Emilee Beggs made a 3-pointer with 2:58 to play in the game did Bluefield have a second-half field goal, and that simply cut a 44-21 Polar Bears’ lead to 20 points.
“I thought going into it if we could handle their pressure we had a chance to win,” Bluefield coach Tony Mallamaci said. “We did a decent job handling their pressure.
“But they had 66 rebounds, we had 27 and that’s probably the stat that got us. We also shot 18.6 percent. Shooting that low of a percentage, it’s hard. They had a lot to do with that. They forced us into some bad shots with their pressure.”
The Beavers’ Jaisah Smith scored all 10 of her team’s points in the first quarter to help Bluefield hang tight as it faced a 12-10 deficit entering the second quarter.
Bluefield (17-9) used an 8-0 run in the second quarter to turn a five-point deficit into an 18-15 lead on a 3 by Carley Moretto.
Senior ultimately went into halftime leading 19-18, but had 12 turnovers and was shooting just 25 percent.
A 42-13 rebounding advantage in the second half changed everything as the Polar Bears’ depth wore on the Beavers.
FSHS played nine players compared to the Beavers’ six.
“As the game went on, I felt they got more tired because we were getting more aggressive on defense,” FSHS freshman guard Marley Washenitz said. “We were pressuring and all up on them which kind of wore them out in the end.”
Washenitz finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
Jordan led all players with 13 rebounds, while Courtney Wilfong had 11 boards for the Polar Bears. Faulkner added nine rebounds and reserves Rebekah Jenkins and Morgan Lilley had seven and six rebounds, respectively.
Smith led BHS with 18 points, while Autumn Spangler had 10 rebounds.