CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the lone remaining unbeaten team in West Virginia, Greenbrier East carries with it a certain level of expectation.
The No. 1 Spartans looked to be carrying the weight of that for long stretches of the first half in Wednesday’s Class AAA quarterfinal against No. 8 Hampshire at the Charleston Coliseum.
A refocused and recharged group then dominated the second half of the matchup to pull away from the Trojans, turning a nine-point halftime advantage into a 64-36 victory.
“They’re still just kids and they started the game kid of nervous,” Greenbrier East coach Jim Justice said. “Then some things didn’t go their way. Don’t take anything away from Hampshire. They’re a good team and well-coached. We kind of got it going halfway, but I know they have another gear.”
Although the Spartans (25-0) scored the game’s first six points and prevented the Trojans from scoring until Della Knight’s basket at the 2:23 mark of the opening quarter, Hampshire (16-9) faced just a 10-6 deficit after the opening quarter.
Knight accounted for all six of her team’s points in the first quarter, but her teammates contributed to the scoring load during a second period that saw the Trojans make 6-of-13 shots to remain well within striking distance and trail 29-20 at halftime.
“The low-scoring game was definitely to our benefit,” Hampshire coach Jordan Richardson said. “The first half was how we wanted it and we controlled the pace.”
Greenbrier East post player Hannah Fuller led her team with eight points and six rebounds at the break, while Knight led all players with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting.
Spartans’ guard Kennedy Stewart was more assertive during an eight-point third quarter that featured three field goals on four attempts, and GEHS outscored Hampshire 15-10 in that frame to carry a 44-30 lead into the fourth.
“I was pretty nervous. It might have been worse [this year] because we had to wait all day to play. The last couple years we played in the morning, but the nerves got out at halftime,” Stewart said.
The Spartans’ Mackenna McClure scored the opening basket of the final frame and teammate Kala Waller accounted for the next two to make it a 20-point margin for the first time.
East maintained its high level of offensive execution for much of the fourth quarter, scoring 20 points on 8-for-17 shooting and limiting HHS to 2-for-13 shooting to continue expanding its advantage.
“They’re very senior-heavy and you could tell they’ve been here before,” Richardson said. “I think that was the difference in the game.”
The result sends the Spartans into a semifinal against the winner of John Marshall-Keyser.
Fuller was even more productive in the second half to finish with team-high totals of 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Stewart scored 14, McClure contributed 12 and Waller and Ava Workman nine apiece to make it 61 points from the starting give.
“Our whole thing is speeding people up and we need to speed ourselves up,” Justice said. “They’re kids and it didn’t click right off the get go, but this team is explosive and can score a lot of points really fast.”
McClure also recorded seven steals and was instrumental in ensuring the Spartans got plenty out of their full court pressure.
“She’s the glue to this team in every way,” Justice said.
Knight, the team’s lone senior in the lineup, scored a game-high 20 points and added 11 rebounds.
“We knew we had a tall task ahead of us,” Richardson said. “Greenbrier East is unbeaten for a reason. That being said, we had every belief that we were going to win this game because there’s been a mindset shift in our program.”