WILLIAMSTOWN, W.Va. — A three-pointer from Arissa Burt with 1:30 to play broke a 47-all tie and gave Williamstown a lead they would not relinquish as the Yellowjackets defeated St. Marys, 53-49 in an early-season battle of unbeaten teams.
Burt’s triple and a pair of free throws in the final minute allowed WHS (3-0) to secure victory in a game where neither team led by more than seven points.
“I’ll be honest, when she shot it, I was like, ‘I don’t need that, Burt’. She nailed it. I was like, ‘Well, you made it. That’s OK’,” said Williamstown head coach Danny Bunch.
“Honestly, when she shot it, I cringed. No matter who shot it, I cringed. She was wide open. When she hit it, I felt a lot better, let’s put it that way.”
The lead changed hands seven times in the first three quarters. WHS led 16-11 after the opening eight minutes. However, St. Marys used a 9-0 second-quarter run to build a 26-23 halftime advantage. Just as they did in the first quarter, the Yellowjackets closed the third quarter well. A 13-3 run gave WHS a 39-36 heading into the final frame.
Consecutive baskets from Quinn Bunch and Gracie Montgomery gave Williamstown a 45-38 lead with seven minutes to play. St. Marys scored the next seven points to tie the score at 45. After Bunch and Brynnley Bulluck traded baskets, Burt’s three-pointer gave Williamstown their last lead in the game. Burt scored 15 points.
“To have a game like that three games in, to play St. Marys here at home and have to control the game late and get the ball inbounds, that’s invaluable. You can’t do that in practice to get that kind of pressure. I think to have those kinds of late-game situations in a competitive ball game, that’s huge for them.”
Bunch led Williamstown with 18 points while engineering the Yellowjacket offense.
“A couple of times on the inbounds, she had a couple of people guarding her and she was able to move, cut and get open to get the basketball. That’s invaluable.”
Bulluck led St. Marys (3-1) with 18 points.
“In our locker room, we gave player of the game to Anna Cosner for the effort she did against Bulluck. Bulluck, being the great player that she is, she still hit some shots late. But her defensive pressure sort of set the tone for the rest of us.”
Maggie Frye and Gracie Montgomery each scored nine points for Williamstown.
“In the St. Marys-Williamstown rivalry, the last three years I think every game has been just like this. You can’t ask for anything better. A great team and they’ll be ready for us when we go back there. But we’ve got a lot of games between now and then that we’ve got to worry about.”