(Game highlights)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Last season, Webster County’s girls basketball program qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2004.
The Highlanders made a repeat trip to Charleston this year and as the No. 5 seed, found themselves matched up with No. 4 Doddridge County, which was making its first state tournament appearance in 25 years.
Webster County, which was admittedly plagued by nerves a year ago in a 12-point quarterfinal loss to Tucker County, settled into Tuesday’s contest and adjusted well as it went on to earn a 54-37 victory over the Bulldogs.
“We discussed with the girls and pointed out to them that we were here last year and we know what to expect,” WCHS head coach Sharon Baird said. “Doddridge, on the other hand, hadn’t, so we expressed nerves would hit them early like they hit us last year.”
The win allows the Highlanders (20-5) to move on to a semifinal at 7:15 p.m. Thursday against top seed Gilmer County.
Outside of a Rylee Spurlock free throw for the game’s first point, the Bulldogs (19-7) were never ahead, though they were within striking distance until the late in third quarter.
“Nerves always play a factor,” Bulldogs’ head coach Lisa Cheeseman said. “We saw it a little bit in Webster County last year. That’s part of the process I guess.”
With much of Doddridge County’s defensive game plan designed to limit guard Sydney Baird, the Highlanders’ top offensive option, Webster looked for and got plenty of production from its supporting cast.
Holly Perrine scored the team’s first five points and Hannah Cutlip accounted for consecutive Highlander field goals later in the first quarter to help WCHS lead 15-11 after one.
“It makes it so much easier. Now they don’t have to just worry about me, they have to worry about everyone else,” Sydney Baird said. “If we’re all scoring, they have to do something.”
DCHS trimmed its deficit to 18-17 on an Abby McDonough jump shot 3 minutes into the second quarter, but the Highlanders took control with a 13-5 spurt to close the half.
During that critical surge that enabled Baird’s team to create separation, Sydney Baird was responsible for five points and Cutlip and Emily Taylor scored four apiece to help the Highlanders hold a 31-22 halftime lead.
“Our mindset was that we had to play good defense, rebound and keep our turnovers down,” Sharon Baird said. “We figured they may double team [Sydney], or go box-and-1 or something. This was one of Hannah’s biggest games of her life. It took a little bit of convincing at first, but then she was successful.”
Webster took its first double-digit lead at 34-24 on Perrine’s 3-pointer 1:42 into the second half.
The Bulldogs trailed 38-26 nearing the 1-minute mark of the third quarter, but a triple from Cutlip and five points from Baird in the final 34 seconds of the frame allowed Webster to take a commanding 46-29 lead into the fourth.
“The intention was to keep her off balance,” Cheeseman said of Baird. “We doubled at the beginning, went to a box, then went straight man and then back to the double. We did a lot of things to try and contain her. She’s a fantastic player.”
Doddridge rattled off the first five points of the final period as McDonough made consecutive jumpers to cut her team’s deficit to 12. But the Bulldogs could get no closer and did not have another field goal after Carrie Lloyd’s layup at the 5-minute mark made it 48-36.
Baird led all players with 18 points and added a team-high 12 rebounds. She made 8-of-14 shots and had four assists.
Cutlip scored 11 to go with her three steals, while Perrine added eight points in the win.
“We practiced against a double team because we’ve seen it before,” Sydney Baird said. “Hannah stepped up and made shots. Once that happened, they went man and we did what we had to do.”
McDonough paced the Bulldogs with 14 points and 10 boards. Lloyd led all players with 14 rebounds.
The Bulldogs made onlt 14-of-57 shots and missed all but one of their 21 attempts from beyond the arc.
“It’s definitely different than our homecourt and the crowd atmosphere is different,” McDonough said. “Being down here, knowing all this pressure is on you, it’s tough to adjust.”
Each team had only nine turnovers.
“We’re good at handling the man to man,” Sharon Baird said. “By them changing it up, we stepped up our game a little bit and started scoring more.”
Doddridge County won the only regular season meeting between the two teams 48-40 back on December 16.
(Webster County postgame press conference)