CHARCMO – Greenbrier West’s run at a second consecutive state tournament came to a heartbreaking end Tuesday night. Class A #8 River View snuck into Charmco and stole a 95-92 win from the Section II champions. The Lady Cavaliers end their season at 14-9 but will walk away with heads held high with an eye on a deep tournament run next season.
The Raiders started the game on fire with senior center Abigail Pruitt bucketing 12 points. Threes from Chasity Kennedy, Kaci Hatfield, and Brooke Fuller bolstered Pruitt’s output. River View weathered a mid-quarter run by Greenbrier West after jumping out to a 12-4 lead. The Cavaliers wrestled the lead away from the Raiders briefly, building a five-point bulge of their own. West countered the early sluggish start with eight points from Preslee Treadway. Brilee Redden, Hannah Sweet, and Maddie Fields all contributed four points each, but the Raiders reset and responded for a 26-20 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Treadway continued to do damage in the lane in the second quarter as River View again relinquished their lead. Treadway tallied ten second points as the lead see-sawed back and forth throughout the quarter. Redden kept pace in the scoring column with seven points. Fields chipped in with three points and added four rebounds to keep the Raiders from second chance scoring opportunities.
Kennedy was the primary scoring force for the Raiders in the second quarter with seven points, while Hatfield added a three. That, along with buckets from Pruitt and Baleigh Auville, gave River View a slim 43-42 halftime lead.
River View seemed to wrest control of the game early in the third quarter. The Raiders again rode the inside play of Pruitt and hot shooting from Kennedy to build and eleven-point lead. Treadway, playing in her first game since the Cavaliers sectional-opening win over Richwood due to a high ankle sprain, kept the Cavaliers close. Treadway scored eight more in the quarter, and senior point guard Hannah Sweet nailed a crucial three-pointer to keep the Cavaliers close. River View led 68-64 at the end of three.
The fourth quarter would be a gutsy scoring battle between Treadway and Pruitt. With her team trailing by six, Treadway scored eight straight to give West a momentary lead. Pruitt countered with an overpowering layup to tie the game at 80 but Treadway responded with a corner three to put the Cavaliers back in the lead. River View’s Kaylee Blankenship briefly interrupted the duel and pushed the Raiders back into the lead with back-to-back scores. Again, Treadway countered to give West a slim one-point advantage. The back-and-forth continued as Pruitt split a pair of free throws, then scored on another basket at the rim to put River View up by two. Treadway did her part to keep up with four more points while Pruitt got help from a Kennedy bucket. Tied at 91, the game’s defining moment was seconds away.
At that point, Kennedy stole the show from Treadway and Pruitt. She also grabbed the momentum. Setting up on the right perimeter, the rapid-releasing sophomore fired a three that gave the Raiders the lead for good. It was Kennedy’s fifth trey of the evening and easily the biggest of a wild scoring night. West, unable to muster a response, closed their campaign with a 95-92 loss.
The night was not a total loss. Treadway had been on a collision course with the 1,000-point milestone all season. After the ankle injury kept her from West’s 46-31 sectional championship win over Meadow Bridge, the scoring threshold looked like it may take a few more games to reach. She erased all doubts, though, and at the 6:37 mark of the fourth quarter, Treadway took an inbound pass for a layup that launched her into the Cavalier record books.
Unexpectedly, Treadway also notched another historic achievement. In West’s 80-49 win over River View on November 29, the junior all-stater scored what was believed to be the girl’s single-game school record with 39 points. Months of research following that game did nothing to disprove the perceived record. On Tuesday night, Treadway sealed the deal by scoring 46 points, a school record period. Treadway broke Claude Bevins’ record of 45 points set on February 25, 1992, against Nicholas County, leaving no doubt of her achievement.
In addition to her scoring output, Treadway added 14 rebounds. Maddie Fields added 17 points and 13 rebounds. Brilee Redden had a fabulous night as well with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Sweet had a nine-point effort, and Sam Holliday chipped in with four points and four rebounds.
