FAIRLEA- The hype leading up to a top five matchup with the no. 1 ranked Greenbrier East Lady Spartans and 4th ranked Hurricane Lady Redskins was at an elite level.
And when the final buzzer sounded on Saturday night, one team was just a little more elite than the other.
Greenbrier East (14-0) used big second and fourth quarters and got contributions from several key players and cruised to an impressive 62-45 victory over the now previously undefeated Redskins.
East even had to overcome a slow start to do it.
It was the Redskins who got off to the better start as they used patience and stellar defense to take an early 13-7 lead after the first quarter.
But in the second quarter, the Spartans woke up.
Hannah Fuller started off with a bucket underneath and then Ava Workman had a beautiful steal at halfcourt and turned it into two points on the other end and the Spartans trailed just 13-11 at that point. A Workman 3 and a nice assist from Jada Waller to Fuller for two gave East their first lead of the game at 16-15. Following that, Fuller hit a jumper to end the half and gave the Lady Spartans a 21-17 halftime advantage.
Fuller started the third where she ended in the first half and scored the first points for the Spartans out of the locker room. Hurricane (13-1) answered with a basket from freshman Brooklyn Jones, but a runner from Workman and Kennedy Stewart’s first triple of the night put Greenbrier East up 28-19 and forced the Hurricane staff to call a quick timeout.
Gabby Quijano and Kendall Anderson scored back-to-back buckets for Hurricane after the timeout and trimmed their deficit to 28-24, but the Spartans seemed to rally from that point forward.
A basket from Waller and a corner 3 from Sandy Banton put the Spartans up 35-27 with just a couple minutes remaining in the quarter. Then, Alexis Stack, who played a key role all night, hit two free throws and Stewart knocked in a jumper at the buzzer, and after three quarters, East had built their biggest lead at 41-32.
Workman controlled the fourth quarter from a ballhandling standpoint and scored the first five Spartan points in the fourth quarter.
At that point, Hurricane head coach Jeremy Young had seen enough with the officiating and was given a technical for giving an earful to one.
Stack would score eight points the rest of the quarter and the Redskins never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way. The buzzer sounded and the crowd applauded the Lady Spartans effort.
The stat sheet was a team effort. Workman led the Spartans with 18 points, six boards, four steals and three assists. Fuller was good inside with 11 points and nine rebounds. Stack scored 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Stewart finished with nine points and six boards and Waller was great all around with eight points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
The Lady Spartans will get a few days of rest before heading to the Battle for the Springhouse tournament at the Greenbrier Hotel this weekend. They will play Huntington at 8:00 PM this Friday, Jan. 31. We will preview that tournament this week.
