With a month to play until brackets are set for the girls basketball state tournament, the Golden Tornado of Keyser look to be heavy favorites to earn one of the two tickets to Charleston that are up for grabs in Class AAA Region II. Under head coach Josh Blowe, Keyser has posted 50-13 record over the last two-and-a-half seasons and they are seeking a third consecutive state tournament berth.
“We just have a solid core and a group of young ladies that work hard every day,” Blowe said. “They want to succeed. They want to do well. They’re competitive in practice and they are competitive in games. They just want to win every time they come on the floor. Sometimes, we do some things that kind of frustrate us. But with any group of 14 to 18-year-old young ladies, I guess that is going to happen from time to time. Our coaching staff is doing a great job and trying to get them on track. We are trying to peak at the right time.”
In their 14-2 start, Keyser has played a handful of Class AAAA opponents, including a narrow defeat to Morgantown in January, 50-44.
“You can’t take quarters off and you can’t take plays off. The Morgantown game was one where we came out and kind of punched them early. We took an 11-0 lead early in the first quarter. They clawed back and did a great job. They did some things that caused us a little trouble late in the game. It definitely makes us tougher, the competitive games. We clawed back to three points with about two minutes to go. It was just a great game. You want those games where it is competitive late.”
Like many teams across the state, the Golden Tornado ventured south over the holiday break to play three games in three days in Orlando, Florida.
“The one that stands out the most to me was Day 2 (vs. Crittenden County). We were down big, probably 16 or 18 points in the first half. He crawled all the way back and ended up winning the game by two against a really quality opponent. The experience was great.
“We went to Disney Parks three times. The hotel and resort was five-star at the Gaylord. They got to experience the luxury life in Florida.”
In their first 15 games of the season, Keyser is allowing just 38.2 points per game. They have also scored at least 60 points in six games, giving the Golden Tornado a number of different ways to collect victories.
“We have had six different girls score in double digits this year. And we have had four different leading scorers as well. That just shows our depth and our balance and different things we can do. We have won games 46-44. We have won games with 70 and 75. We can do a lot of different things and we can win a lot of different ways. That’s a comfort for a coach and a program that you can strive and do those different things and win different ways.”
Keyser’s impressive junior class is led by 5-foot-11 guard and forward Bibs Felton. She recently surpassed the 1,000-point mark in just over two seasons with the program. On Thursday, Felton became the program’s all-time leading scorer.
“We feel like she is in much different shape physically. Mentally, she has definitely grown from last year to this year. She is doing a lot of good things. She is getting college looks right now. She knows that it is her junior year and she wants to continue to get better and strive for excellence and greatness.
“She is putting in so much time working on her shot. People see her 20 points a game. But they don’t see her five assists per game or setting her teammates up and getting them in the right spots. She is doing so much more and her basketball IQ has definitely elevated from her sophomore year to her junior year.”
Blowe and the Golden Tornado are hoping to make a bid for the Class AAA state championship in March but Blowe already owns a state championship trophy. He led the Keyser golf team to the Class AA crown in 2022. Blowe admits the stress levels between coaching basketball and golf can vary.
“Golf is definitely less stressful except for Day 2 of the state tournament. Then it gets a little different than the rest of the season. But other than that, golf is way more laid back.
“I have a girl on my team, she kind of ribs me because she has been to a few golf matches here and she has seen my coaching style in golf and my coaching style in basketball. They don’t really correlate. And she lets me know about it a good bit. She said, ‘I saw you eating a peanut butter and jelly and drinking water and sitting in a golf cart’.”