FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Fairmont Senior outscored Philip Barbour 29-10 in the second half to claim the Class AAA, Region II, Section 1 championship with a 64-33 win at the 201st Fairmont Senior Fieldhouse. Playing their first game in two weeks after voluntarily clearing their schedule in the final week of the regular season, the Polar Bears buckled down defensively in the third and fourth quarters.
“I thought we were rusty in the first half and I thought we gave up way too many points. I told them that at halftime and we made a few adjustments. I thought our defensive intensity picked up in the second half and I was really excited about that,” said Fairmont Senior head coach Corey Hines.
“Even if you do have a layoff, the one thing layoffs usually hurt is your shooting. It can’t hurt you defensively. You can’t allow that. You have to sit there and be able to step up and guard.”
Philip Barbour (9-8) trailed by just two points (15-13) after one quarter before the Polar Bears opened up a 35-23 halftime lead.
“At this time of year, you are going to get everybody’s best effort. You have to walk on the floor and give your best effort and don’t think people are just going to roll over. Philip Barbour’s coaches have done a great job this season. They came off a big over (at East Fairmont). So I knew they were going to come to play.”
Future WVU guard Marley Washenitz led a balanced Polar Bear (14-0) offensive attack with 25 points. Meredith Maier scored 15 points and pulled down 11 boards. Reagan Blasher added 10 points.
“As usual, I am really excited about how we shared the ball. These young ladies are looking for each other and they honestly cheer and want to see everybody be successful. So that is big.
“Our goal is to play on the first day and finish on the last day. We want to be hoisting a trophy. If we don’t do those things, we consider those seasons a failure. When other programs say, ‘We won twenty games or we won this amount of games’, that is not what we do here at Fairmont Senior.”
Fairmont Senior will host Lincoln in a Class AAA regional matchup Tuesday while the Colts will play a regional at Lewis County.