WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS (WVDN) – After defeating the Nitro Wildcats 50-49 on Saturday, Feb. 4, the Greenbrier East Lady Spartans secured third place in the second annual Battle for the Springhouse tournament at The Greenbrier.
The Spartans lost to the Class AA No. 3 Mingo Central Miners 53-44 the previous night.
In the opener, the Spartans, who won the inaugural title a year ago, trailed most of the night, simply because Mingo Central is a good basketball team. The Miners came into the tournament at 15-1, ranked 3rd in Class AA and ended with a tourney championship.
Still, East had their chances, but came up short as the Miners game plan was to harass the Stewart sisters and make someone else beat them, and someone almost did.
Mingo took the lead 2-0 after Delaney Grimmett stole a pass and sunk 2 from the charity stripe. East would tie the game a couple times midway through the quarter, but the Miners continued to build the lead and led 16-9 after Addy Smith hit a triple at the buzzer.
The Spartans went on a mini 5-0 run after a 3-ball from Caroline Dotson and then kept the lead at 2 points following an offensive rebound and stick-back from Hannah Fuller. However, from that point, the Miners closed the half on a 12-5 run and led 30-21 at halftime.
Madison Curry started hot for Mingo in the third quarter as the Miners extended their lead to 34–21 just a couple minutes into the period. Their lead remained steady at 10-12 points for the rest of the quarter, and the Spartans trailed 43-32 after three.
Just as it seemed like the game was over at that point, the Spartans turned to one of their veterans. With East’s defense focused on shutting down Smith, Mingo’s’ top player, the offense was led by Dotson. Dotson went on a personal 10-1 run to bring her team within 2 points at 44-42 as the majority Spartan crowd in attendance suddenly had something to cheer about with 4:08 remaining in the game.
But Jenna Sparks scored consecutive buckets to extend the Miners lead to 6, and Smith hit some key free throws late to put the Spartans away.
Dotson was the only double figure scorer for East with 16 points.
Smith had 18 to lead Mingo Central. Sparks had 14, and Curry contributed 11.
MC: 16 14 13 10
GE: 9 12 11 12
East came right back the next afternoon and played a thriller with a good Nitro team.
The Wildcats (9-9) featured Taylor Maddox, a West Virginia State commit, and had beaten the Spartans in a scrimmage before the season, but East held their own this time around.
Dotson picked up where she left off with a 3 at the six-minute mark and a 5-2 East lead early. After a Fuller score that put the Spartans up 11-6, Nitro went on a 6-0 scoring run capped by Haley Newsome’s 3 to take a 12-11 lead after one.
Cadence Stewart, a college commit to Alderson-Broaddus herself, got 5 quick points to open the second, but a Maddox triple put the Wildcats up 19-15 just two minutes into the period. However, Maddox picked up her third foul when she hacked Fuller underneath, and that sent the scorer to the bench. East took advantage while she was out and grabbed a 24-23 halftime lead.
The Spartans (9-6) caught fire on offense in the third and played stifling defense, as well. They outscored Nitro 17-4 in the quarter with C. Stewart getting 13 of those on four made 3s. At the end of three quarters, the Spartans led 41-27.
Fast forward ahead with about two minutes to play and the Spartans up 50-38: they seemed to be in a good spot, but the Wildcats made a furious run in that span. Ava Edwards hit a 3, then they got another basket, stole the ensuing inbounds pass, and Edwards drilled another triple. Maddox then forced a turnover and made a layup to make it 50-49. Mattox had a chance to pull off the comeback win, but missed a runner in the lane as the Spartans rebounded the ball and ran out the clock and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
C. Stewart led the Spartans with a game-high 24 points. Her sister, Kennedy, added 12.
Maddox led the Wildcats with 13 points.
East went on to host Oak Hill Monday night, Feb. 6.
GE: 11 13 17 9
N: 12 11 3 22
