CHARLESTON, W.Va. — When Wayne and Nitro met in the lone regular season matchup between the top two seeds in Class AAA, the Wildcats prevailed in a defensive slugfest, 30-25.
Duplicating that defensive effort figured to be a tall order in the rematch Saturday as the two teams battled for state supremacy, with the Wildcats seeking a second straight state championship and third in five seasons.
Instead, the No. 2 Pioneers shot nearly 50 percent (19 for 40) and worked their game plan to near perfection to dominate the middle two quarters in a 56-39 win against the Wildcats at the Charleston Coliseum.
“A saying I heard a long time ago is basketball builds character, but no. Basketball reveals character,” Wayne head coach Wade Williamson said. “The character on our team is unmatched.”
The result gives Wayne (22-4) its first state championship.
Nitro’s best quarter was the first, and the Wildcats (21-5) raced out to a 7-2 lead as Bri Gibson scored the team’s first five points.
But Wayne limited NHS to two points over the final 4-plus minutes of the opening frame and drew to within 9-8 ahead of the second period.
Jayce Sammons started the second-quarter scoring with a three-pointer, and from that point forward, Wayne was in front.
Later in the second, Sammons drained a triple while being fouled, and the sophomore guard converted the free throw for a four-point play that left her team with a 17-11 lead.
“It’s always to make an and-1 three. When we’re shooting, we’re always trying to get in rhythm and when one of us gets in rhythm, usually all of us can get into it,” Sammons said.
The Pioneers gained the game’s first double-figure advantage at 23-12, before two free throws from Nitro’s Karson Jones allowed the Wildcats to trail by nine at halftime.
The third quarter started began with the Wildcats charging back. A three from Ava Edwards and two from Gibson allowed Nitro to pull to within 29-25 as the midway point of the period approached.
“The first 4 minutes we wanted to take control of the game,” Nitro head coach Pat Jones said. “We kind of did and cut it in half, but then we started settling for outside shots and three-pointers again.”
The Pioneers turned it on from there and made 7-of-11 field-goal attempts during a 20-point frame that gave them complete control of the contest.
In outscoring NHS 14-2 over the final 4:37 of the third, the Pioneers got consecutive baskets from Mikayla Stacy, a Sammons layup, Brooke Adkins’ triple and they made 5-of-6 free throws to leave the Wildcats facing a 16-point deficit.
“We kept the pressure on them and kept pressing them offensively,” Williamson said. “We kept the pushing the ball at them and tried to get backdoors to take advantage of the things they were doing.”
Nitro got no closer than 14 in the final quarter and the Pioneers took their first 20-point lead on Adkins’ jumper that made it 52-32.
“We didn’t answer the way they answered every time,” Jones said. “When we’d go on a 7-0 run, they’d come back and go on an even bigger run. I take responsibility for that for not keeping my kids mentally in the game and I have to do a better job.”
Wayne made 13-of-21 second-half field-goal attempts and had a decisive advantage on free throws. Behind Sammons making 10-of-12 foul shots, WHS converted 15-of-22 attempts to Nitro making 5 of 6.
“We thought we had good matchup possibilities,” Williamson said. “We made Brooke the point guard today. She did that as a freshman and some the other day. Jayce played on the wing a lot because we felt we had good matchups to be able to go back door and do some things off the dribble. That limited them playing 2 bigs together a lot. We were able to take them off the dribble sometimes and score.”
Sammons’ 22 points led all players and she added five steals while garnering Most Outstanding Player in the Class AAA state tournament.
Adkins scored 16 and added five steals, while Lexi Blankenship contributed eight points on 3-for-3 shooting in a reserve role.
Addie Adkins led WHS with eight rebounds.
“I feel like I haven’t let it sink in yet. I’m just over the top,” Addie Adkins said.
Gibson led Nitro with 16 points. Wildcats’ standout Natalie Smith was limited to four points. Smith led all players with 13 rebounds.
“We talked this morning about wanting to press and make them use Natalie to break the press, so even if they broke the press, she was still trailing the play,” Williamson said. “We didn’t let them get set and organized on the other end by pressuring them. We kept varying our stages of pressure and that was big for us.”
Twenty-six of the Wildcats’ 46 field-goal attempts were threes.
“Hats off to Wayne. They took us out of our game,” Jones said. “We settled for way too many outside shots and didn’t get the ball into the post enough. That’s not our game. We don’t want to shoot 26 threes.”
Class AAA all-tournament team
Ava Workman, Greenbrier East
Hadley Horne, Grafton
Brooklyn Cawley, Nitro
Addie Adkins, Wayne
Brooke Adkins, Wayne
Natalie Smith, Nitro
Mikayla Stacy, Wayne
Most Outstanding Player: Jayce Sammons, Wayne