CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Through a combination of quality guard play and front court production, Nitro makes things tough on the opposition in a number of ways.
The top seed and defending Class AAA state champion put many of them on display Tuesday night in a 62-34 victory against No. 8 Lewis County.
In a rematch of last year’s state title game, the Minutemaids (15-9) got off to a promising start and led 9-7 more than 5 minutes into the matchup following an Addie Curry three-pointer.
The Wildcats then controlled the remainder of the opening quarter, which they finished on a 9-0 spurt to lead by seven.
“We had to calm down. We were over-thinking and not playing the type of ball that we want to play,” Nitro head coach Pat Jones said. “We wanted to get the ball inside around the basket and we were forcing a lot of outside shots off one pass. We want to get the ball to the bigs and that can open people up when they double and triple down.”
Ava Edwards, Brooklyn Cawley and Karson Jones combined for all 16 first-quarter points for Nitro (20-4), including two triples from Cawley.
The Minutemaids were recharged to start the second quarter, which they began on their own 7-0 spurt that featured a Makenzie Egress bucket to pull LCHS to within one just before the midway point of the period.
However, starting with a Briana Gibson triple that marked Nitro’s first points of the quarter, the Wildcats outscored the Minutemaids 15-5 over the final 4:13 of the half.
Despite not scoring for nearly 4 minutes to start the quarter, the Wildcats made 6-of-14 field-goal attempts in the second and 13 of 28 in the opening half to lead 32-21 at the intermission.
“I look at halftime stats and we’re getting out-rebounded by only four, had one less turnover than them and we got up and down the floor, but the big thing was 1 for 11 from three,” Lewis County head coach Joe Nichols said.
Natalie Smith scored seven of her nine points in the third quarter to help the Wildcats up their advantage to 48-28 through three, and NHS led by at least 20 throughout the fourth.
“We felt if we could keep it to five at halftime, we could maybe put some pressure on them in the fourth, but it didn’t work out that way,” Nichols said.
Nitro did not have a player attempt more than nine shots. Still, the Wildcats had three double-figure scorers and five players with seven-plus points as they shot 24 for 49 and moved to within two victories of repeating as state champion.
“It goes to show we over me. We want to play team ball and win as a team,” Jones said. “That’s what we did today. We don’t want to play individual basketball.“
Edwards led the squad with 12 points, Cawley added 11 and Jones scored 10 on 4-for-5 shooting in a reserve role.
No NHS player attempted more than nine shots.
“If I don’t score it’s fine, because we have other players that we can get it to and they can do the work inside and outside,” Cawley said.
Smith led all players with 11 rebounds as well.
Alexis Piggie scored nine points to pace Lewis, while Ella Pinkney added eight points, five rebounds and four assists in the final game of her prep career.
“She’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. You can never tell if she’s playing good or bad because of her demeanor,” Nichols said.
The Minutemaids made only 2-of-21 tries from long range.
“We played well enough to win defensive wise, but we didn’t shoot the ball well enough to win,” Nichols said. “We couldn’t get shots to fall. That’s part of it. You can’t blame it on experience. They played hard and played until the final buzzer. You can’t ask for much more than that as a coach.”
Nitro entered the contest full of emotion after receiving a pregame visit from Alexus Newsome. A freshman on the Wildcat roster, Newsume was recently diagnosed with Round Cell Sarcoma, a rare type of cancer. She has undergone chemotherapy at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis.
“It was emotional, but it helped boost us in a way and helped push us to our best abilities,” Smith said. “We’re glad she’s here and taking a break from her hard times. We’re fighting for Lex just like she’s fighting.”