ST. MARYS, W.Va. — After Williamstown executed at a high level offensively throughout a 20-point first quarter, the Yellowjackets fell flat on that end in the next frame Tuesday night at St. Marys.
Trailing by five at halftime, the Blue Devils maintained their momentum to start the second half and pulled even at 23 on a conventional three-point play from Brynn Bulluck 1:52 into the third quarter.
From that point forward, however, it was all Williamstown, which limited the Blue Devils to three field goals the rest of the way and pulled away in the late stages of the third quarter to claim a comfortable 47-31 victory.
“We played pretty well, especially in that second half,” Williamstown head coach Danny Bunch said. “We really turned up the energy on the defensive end and showed a lot of patience on offense. We got some good looks inside.”
Playing short-handed and with only eight players in uniform as a result of injury and sickness, St. Marys (8-4) struggled to contain Anna Cosner early, and her three three-pointers in the opening frame helped stake WHS (11-2) to a 20-13 lead.
Quinn Bunch opened the second-quarter scoring with a triple to up the Yellowjackets’ advantage to 10, but they never scored again the remainder of the first half.
Williamstown was able to maintain its lead on the strength of solid defense, but a follow-up basket from Lauren Pritchett, combined with Bulluck’s bucket in the paint as time was winding down in the half, allowed the Blue Devils to go to the break trailing 23-18.
“We had to take better quality shots,” coach Bunch said. “We had a bunch of one pass threes, and other than Anna starting the game off hot, we didn’t really have anybody stroking it. You can get that one pass three almost any possession.”
After pulling even less than 2 minutes into the third quarter, however, St. Marys struggled to get stops or stay in touch with Williamstown, which went in front for good on Maggie Frye’s follow-up.
Bunch followed with a three and layups from Arissa Burt and Gracie Montgomery came not long after.
“They outplayed us tonight because they’re better. I’ll give our kids credit. Part of it is my fault and not getting the kids in better shape, but we’re trying to fight injuries,” Blue Devils’ head coach Fred King said.
Although St. Marys was back to within 32-26 with 2 minutes left in the third, Bunch scored the final six points of the period on separate triples to give Williamstown a lead of a dozen with 8 minutes remaining.
“I wanted to slow it down and work the ball inside and if we could get a kick out three, that’s another thing,” coach Bunch said. “We got some of those in the second half after we got the ball inside and got some easy buckets. They were able to step into them.“
SMHS made one more charge by scoring the first five points of the fourth, including one of its two triples from Landrey Riggs that cut the Williamstown lead to seven.
But that proved to be the final points for the Blue Devils, while Bunch and Burt combined for the final nine points of the contest, allowing the final margin to count as Williamstown’s largest advantage.
Williamstown with a well executed inbound play where Anna Cosner finds Arissa Burt during the fourth quarter of a 47-31 win at St. Marys.#wvgirlsbb pic.twitter.com/USvggSXgK9
— Greg Carey (@gcarey938) January 21, 2026
“I was expecting to see some zone from them, especially knowing they were down a few players,” coach Bunch said. “We didn’t know how many or who until we got here, but we thought we’d see some zone out of them.”
Bunch made five of her team’s nine triples and led all players with 21 points.
“I’m lucky that I’m the coach and also her dad, so I get to see her shoot a lot and I know what she can do,” coach Bunch said.
Cosner scored all nine of her points on treys, while Burt contributed eight points and nine rebounds.
Bulluck led the Blue Devils with 13 points.
St. Marys was outscored by 21 points from long range and was responsible for 17 of the game’s 26 turnovers.
“I’m really pleased with the effort we gave,” King said. “We just ran out of steam against a better team.”