CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nitro’s Baylee Goins is one of the more feared players in the state, a 5-foot-8 senior with more than 2,000 career points capable of carrying the Wildcats in any game.
But in one of the biggest contests in the history of the NHS program, it was another Wildcat guard who stole the show in leading third-seeded Nitro to a 79-63 victory over second-seeded North Marion in a Class AAA semifinal at the Charleston Coliseum.
Sophomore Taylor Maddox scored 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting and her 21 points after halftime allowed the Wildcats to pull away for a spot in Saturday’’s title game.
“Coach got into me after the first quarter,” Maddox said. “At first, I didn’t know what was going on, but he yelled at me and I went all out and shot the ball well after that.”
Nitro will face the winner of No. 1 Fairmont Senior/No. 4 Logan in the final.
Maddox did not score in the first quarter, but got going in the second and had nine points at halftime to help the Wildcats (17-1) hold a 30-22 lead.
It begged the question: What exactly did NHS coach Pat Jones say to ignite Maddox?
“I got into her at the end of the first quarter and told her I don’t know if you got caught in traffic or just got in from a vacation, but I need you the rest of this game,” Jones said.
Known to play in spurts, North Marion (14-1) ran off the first six points of the second half to close to within two, forcing Jones to call timeout with 6:37 left in the third quarter.
The Wildcats responded with 25 points over the remainder of the period — with Maddox scoring 10 and Goins accounting for nine.
After making 13-of-43 field-goal attempts in the opening half, Nitro capitalized on its ability to beat North Marion’s pressure and shot 10 of 16 in the third to up its lead to 55-43.
“I told the girls at halftime, the first four minutes of the third quarter would make a difference,” Jones said. “They went on a 6-0 run right there and I told them they got the first 1:23, now we have to win the rest of the quarter.”
Maddox made a three-pointer and converted a layup to stretch the lead to 17 just 56 seconds into the fourth quarter.
“She hit everything she shot,” North Marion coach Michael Parrish said. “Our plan coming in was to make sure we guarded her and we lost her a bunch of times and she made us pay.”
The Huskies answered with a 13-6 run over the next 3:41 and drew to within 66-56 with 3:23 to play.
North Marion was unable to close the gap to single digits, however, as Nitro made 9-of-11 free throws over the final 2:56 to seal the outcome.
“When you’re up that big, the ultimate goal is to stall and get to the free throw line,” Jones said.
Goins finished with 20 points, nine assists and five steals.
“Taylor dropping 30 opened everything up,” Goins said. “They had no answer for it.”
Brooklyn Bowen contributed seven points and a game-high 13 rebounds in the win, while Danielle Ward grabbed 12 rebounds.
Olivia Toland led the Huskies with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Emma Freels scored 14 points in the loss. Karlie Denham added nine points and nine rebounds, while Adryan Stemple had 10 points and eight boards for NMHS, which shot just below 32 percent for the game.
“We were stagnant, standing around and not attacking,” Parrish said. “That summed it up.”