CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Greenbrier East is regarded as one of the state’s top offensive teams for good reason.
Ahead of Friday’s Class AAA semifinal against No. 5 Keyser, the Spartans had scored more than 60 points all but four of 25 games.
Against the Golden Tornado, the top seed Spartans proved they’re just fine relying on a stout defensive effort to generate their desired result as well.
Greenbrier East limited Keyser to two field goals in separate quarters and 11 for the game, while never trailing in a 52-37 victory at the Charleston Coliseum.
“These kids executed offensively and defensively the very best they possibly could,” Greenbrier East coach Jim Justice said. “They played a whale of a game.”
The result keeps GEHS (26-0) as the state’s lone unbeaten team and advances the Spartans to play in the Class AAA final, where the winner of Nitro-East Fairmont awaits.
Greenbrier East’s first two field goals were three-pointers from Ava Workman and Kala Waller, and although those were the Spartans’ only baskets over the first 6 minutes, they held the Golden Tornado (18-4) scoreless for more than 5 minutes in that period.
“We did a lot of things very well except one thing — we did not put the ball in the basket for whatever reason,” KHS coach Josh Blowe said.
Kennedy Stewart scored Greenbrier East’s last five points of the quarter to help move the lead to 12-2, before KHS got a trey from Austyn Healy to trail by seven entering the second.
“When you hit one, the juices start flowing,” Stewart said. “You just have to let it fly and build off each other.”
Although Blowe’s team increased its offense in the second quarter, so, too, did the Spartans.
Ava Workman, who was whistled for two fouls in the opening quarter, scored eight points and made all but one field-goal attempt to spark the Spartans’ 17-point frame that featured 6 for 14 shooting.
“Coach told me not worry about it. If I got a third [foul], I was going to be fine either way,” Workman said. “Still had to play hard, but I kind of had to take a step back.”
Riley “Bibs” Felton countered with six points on 3-for-4 shooting in the second, and Keyser went to halftime trailing 29-18.
“The quality of shot, as a teacher, I’d give it a solid B-plus,” Blowe said. “But there were times where we were falling in love with threes early. We were 2 for 12 in the first half and we usually only average 13 or 14 attempts a game. But many of them were good looks and we shot the ball with confidence.”
Waller and Hannah Fuller scored from close range to move the lead to 15 less than 1 minute into the second half, and the advantage was up to 18 late in the third on a Waller triple before Healy answered from long range to cut her team’s deficit to 43-28 with 8 minutes remaining.
Stewart made all three of her shots to score seven points in the fourth, while the Golden Tornado were 2 for 11 from the field and never got closer than the 15 it trailed by to start that period.
Stewart led all players with 20 points and did so efficiently, making 8-of-16 shots and 4-of-7 threes.
“She’s the soul of the whole deal,” Justice said.
Workman scored 15, Waller added eight and Mackenna McClure and Fuller led in rebounding with 12 and 11, respectively.
Keyser, which shot 11 for 42 and made only five two-point field goals, got 11 points apiece from Felton and Kiya Kesner, while Healy scored nine on three treys.
“We switched it up a lot on defense,” Stewart said. “We came out in a zone and it really messed with them. They’re not bad shooters, but if we’re bumping and have a hand in their face, it makes it harder for them to make shots. When we went to a man, we lost some kids, but in the zone, we did a good job of not letting them get into gaps. We really didn’t want them to get into our gaps.”
Kailey (Rooney) Urice had 10 rebounds in defeat, while Felton and Jillian Ault record eight apiece to help KHS finish with a 38-32 rebounding edge.
“We had 18 offensive rebounds, but only converted them into six points,” Blowe said. “We hit the glass really hard, which was a key. This is the first time in a long time that we’ve out-rebounded an opponent and lost. It goes back years now.”