CHARLESTON, W.Va. — St. Marys Junior Brynnley Bulluck has established herself among the top players in Class A.
In Thursday’s state semifinal against Tug Valley, she showed exactly why.
Bulluck scored a game-high 29 points, hit a tying three-pointer with inside 1 minute remaining and then found teammate Laney Watkins in transition for what proved to be the winning layup in the Blue Devils’ thrilling 52-50 triumph over the Panthers at the Charleston Coliseum.
“We figured out a way. They’re all winners,” Blue Devils’ coach Fred King said.
The result allows SMHS (22-4) to play in Saturday’s Class A title game against the winner of Gilmer County-Ritchie County.
Katie Hall had scored from close range with 55 seconds left to give the second-seeded Panthers (20-5) a 50-47 lead.
The No. 3 seed Blue Devils got the ball up the floor quickly and Bulluck received a pass from Anna Bennett before draining the tying triple from off the left wing with 44 seconds remaining.
“We’re down three, I’m behind the three, so I’m going to shoot it,” Bulluck said. “I had trust in myself and my teammates. Might as well. We have nothing to lose. You miss every shot you don’t take.”
TVHS then called timeout, but out of the break, Kylie Deboard missed a shot that Bulluck rebounded.
Bulluck raced into the front court and passed to teammate Laney Watkins, who converted an uncontested layup for what proved to be the winning points with 14 seconds remaining.
“I saw Brynnley going down the court and I was trying my hardest to catch her and get down there,” Watkins said. “I knew she had one person on her and thought I need to get down there incase she misses the layup. I didn’t think she would, but then she gave me a great pass.”
King initially considered calling timeout.
“If we think the floor is open, we’re going,” he said. “Brynnley made a great decision to break it out and get the ball to Laney.”
The Panthers’ had one last chance to tie or gain a late lead, but Haven Deskins missed a shot and Bulluck got the board to secure the victory.
A back-and-forth opening period ended with Tug Valley leading 16-15 on the strength of five different scorers.
But Bulluck, who accounted for eight of her team’s points the first period, scored 10 more in the second, surpassing the Panthers’ total by four in that frame and leading her team to a 29-22 advantage at halftime.
“They got up on us early and were pressuring us and forcing turnovers, but in the second half it was a different game,” said Panthers’ head coach Seth Otten, who noted it had been several weeks since his team last faced an opponent utilizing man-to-man defense before Thursday.
Tug Valley trailed by 11 twice in the third, the latter occasion after Bennett scored off a second-chance opportunity with 1:58 to play in the quarter.
The Panthers responded with five points from Deskins to close the period, allowing them to trail by six entering the fourth.
Deskins made it eight unanswered points when she opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a trey, and her driving layup with 5:43 remaining knotted the matchup at 42.
“They did a good job at first of throwing us off and speeding us up a bit, and once we settled down, we played much better,” Ooten said.
When Hall scored inside with 5:04 left, the Panthers their first lead since the end of the first quarter.
Bulluck’s trey with 3:17 left put SMHS in front 47-46, before the Panthers got a bucket from Gracie Hynd to gain a late lead that was later erased on Bulluck’s fourth triple.
“The shot Brynnley might have been the biggest shot in 50 years I’ve been around,” King said.
Bulluck made 11-of-23 shots and added 11 rebounds in the memorable outing.
“She’s a mismatch out front,” Ooten said. “She handles and shoots the ball well. She did a nice job defending around the rim, too. She played really well.”
Watkins and Bennett scored eight apiece.
Deskins led Tug Valley with 15 points and Deboard and Hall added 11 apiece.
Bailee Hall led all players with 13 rebounds in defeat.
“You don’t win everything. You have to accept some things,” Deskins said. “We gave it our all, but in life, sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to go.”