CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Three minutes into Wednesday night’s Class AAAA quarterfinal between No. 4 University and fifth-seeded St. Albans, hardly anything unusual had transpired.
The Red Dragons led 5-4 in a matchup that figured to be competitive based on seeding.
St. Albans changed that in a major way over the final 4:48 of the first quarter when the Red Dragons outscored the Hawks 23-2 to build an insurmountable lead and set the tone in a 70-48 victory at the Charleston Coliseum.
“We never shoot like this, but maybe we should start playing all our home games here,” St. Albans head coach Elias Gregory said. “I have said all season we’re uniquely qualified for the [state tournament] because of the way we guard and we can play games in the 40s. That wasn’t the case today.”
Starting with a Jaycee Elzy three-pointer for an 8-4 lead, the Red Dragons made five threes in the opening quarter, including two apiece from Jaelyn Vance and Samyah Riggan.
Riggan connected from long range to make it 11 unanswered St. Albans points to end the quarter and a 28-6 margin.
Altogether, the Red Dragons made 11-of-16 shots and 5-of-8 threes in the opening period.
“We got through that regional final game, but I put so much pressure on us to get to the state tournament, I think we were a little tight that game,” Gregory said. “When I saw how loose they were at dinner and they’re giggling in the locker room, I felt good about them and didn’t think there would be any nervousness.”
While St. Albans (17-6) cooled off some in the second, the Red Dragons still shot above 50 percent (5 for 9) and led 37-9 at one point before the Hawks (13-8) began to settle in.
“Their defensive intensity got to us a little bit,” Hawks’ head coach Nick Lusk said. “We started forcing shots. Not forcing to force, but trying to make something happen. They all wanted to do something to get back in the game and that led to them getting some runouts.”
Whitney Cox made a trey and Bri Fox added a jumper that helped allow UHS close the first half on a 9-2 spurt to win that period by one point and trail 39-18 at halftime.
Instead of complacency setting in, St. Albans began the second half with eight straight points, getting five from Taylor Reed along with Riggan’s third and final three sandwiched between.
Trailing 47-18 at that point, the Hawks displayed the resiliency that helped them reach this stage.
Starting with a traditional three-point play from Fox, UHS scored 16 unanswered points. That stretch was capped by another conventional three-point play — this one from Hannah Stemple that made it 47-34 — the closest it had been since 17-6.
But any thought of the Hawks completing the comeback was largely put to rest over the final 3:08 of the third. Starting with an Elzy jump shot that moved the lead back to 15, the Red Dragons outscored the Hawks 13-4 to close the frame with a 60-38 lead.
University never got its deficit inside 18 in the fourth.
“They were hitting a lot of shots that we didn’t typically see on film and that caused us to think we needed to take some of those shots and it got out there a little bit,” Lusk said.
The Red Dragons shot better than 50 percent (26 for 50) and made half of their 16 three-point attempts.
Elzy led the way in the victory with 27 points and six rebounds. She made 12-of-20 shots.
“My teammates really trusted me today and I felt confident enough to go up strong,” Elzy said.
Triniti Austin-Russell added 12 points and a game-high nine assists in the win, while Riggan and Vance scored 11 apiece.
“I was the most nervous I’ve been for a game, but when we started warming up, I felt good,” Riggan said. “The second I stepped on the court, I felt good and I had to trust my teammates to keep getting me the ball and going. My shot was going and I felt really good in that first quarter.”
Reed scored seven on 3-for-3 shooting.
Fox led UHS with 13 points and Stemple scored 13 to go with eight rebounds.
The Hawks were limited to five fast break points in their season-ending setback.
“It helps a ton to make shots because they can’t just push the ball back at you,” Gregory said. “Part of it when we get in trouble in transition defense is because we’re jacking threes that are bouncing long and giving long rebounds. The 3s we took today outside of a couple weren’t insane shots and we got good shots in the paint. Making shots helps, but committing to the hard work to get good shots is a big part of it, too.”
The Red Dragons advance to face Spring Valley in a semifinal Friday.