CHARLESTON, W.Va. — George Washington senior guard Kalissa Lacy made the most of her first action at the state tournament since a disappointing debut as a freshman.
Lacy, the reigning state player of the year, scored 37 points to lead the Patriots to a 67-49 victory over No. 6 seed Woodrow Wilson in a Class AAAA quarterfinal at the Charleston Coliseum.
“We didn’t really call anything specific for her,” GW coach Jamie LaMaster said. “We ran our basic motion and sets. We worked the ball and she came off screens and felt confident. She hit some open shots and fortunately that carried over to the rest of the game. We all how notorious the shooting can be here.”
Lacy had no difficulty starting strong in a game than began at 9:30 a.m. She scored 18 first-quarter points, enabling GW (14-3) to build a 20-12 lead, and the Patriots remained in front the rest of the way.
“My teammates get me going for the most part,” said Lacy, a Morehead State signee.
In the 2018 state tournament, Lacy scored six points and did not make a three-pointer in extensive action during the Patriots’ loss to Wheeling Park. She had four triples Thursday before the opening quarter was over.
“I was looking at an article from that game and it kind of let me down a little bit, because I didn’t play as well as I wanted to,” Lacy said of her previous experience at the state tournament. “This was the kind of game to come back from that.”
While Lacy scored four points in the second quarter, backcourt mate Vivian Ho was also a major factor, giving the Patriots a reliable second option with seven of her 15 points in the period.
The Patriots took a 41-23 lead into halftime after shooting better than 61 percent (16 of 26) from the field and 53 percent from beyond the arc (7 of 13).
Lacy picked up where she left off to start the second half, making her fifth triple for GW’s first points.
“We just had a hard time guarding her,” Beckley coach Brian Nabors said. “We gave everything we had. She got good looks and she was feeling it. We couldn’t settle her down. She’s been killing us for four years. It’s like we turn her on.”
Woodrow Wilson (13-5) produced its highest-scoring quarter of the game in the third to play the Patriots even and faced a 55-37 deficit entering the fourth.
Despite making 6-of-9 fourth-quarter field-goal attempts, the Flying Eagles could get no closer than 14. Lacy scored the Patriots’ first seven points of the fourth, her seventh and final three that put GW up 62-45.
“We got tired and a little fatigued,” Nabors said. “Some girls had to play a lot of minutes. When you get fatigued physically, it affects you mentally as well.”
Lacy made 14-of-22 shots and added six steals and six assists.
Ho also had six assists and made 7-of-9 shots.
“We’re a really good transition team and we have trust in each other,” Ho said.
The Patriots finished with 12 threes, tying the single-game state tournament record from their previous classification — Class AAA.
“We’ve been an outside shooting team all year,” LaMaster said.
GW shot 26-of-48 (54 percent) for the game to overcome being out-rebounded, 38-20. The Eagles’ offensive rebounding total matched the Patriots’ output for the game.
Keanti Thompson led Beckley with 18 points. Jamara Walton had 13 points and 11 rebounds in her final high school game, while Olivia Zolkowski added nine points and 10 rebounds in defeat.
George Washington will face No. 2 Cabell Midland in a Friday semifinal.