CHARMCO – With the regular season winding down, Greenbrier West head coach Mark Agee is finding some new ways to challenge his basketball team. Some of these were planned and some are out of necessity following weeks of inclement weather postponements. The beginning of this week was born both by design and out of need.
West started the week off with a bang, defeating Region III rival Webster County at home 83-67. It was a crucial win with two road games in two nights coming up immediately. The Lady Cavaliers ventured to Hinton Tuesday night to face Class AA powerhouse Summers County. The Bobcats were ranked #9 in the latest AP Girls High School Basketball Poll, so the challenge would be great.
Preslee Treadway and Maddie Fields entered Tuesday night playing their best basketball of the season. Treadway was coming off back-to-back 33-point games, marking her season-best efforts, also pulling down 13 and 12 rebounds in those games. Fields was equally as impressive, coming off the first-known girls triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 steals against Pocahontas County and a 21-point, 10 rebound effort against Webster County. The Cavaliers would need all that output plus some to take a road win at Summers County.
Luckily for Greenbrier West, Brilee Redden heated up in Mondays win over the Highlanders. Redden found her stroke in a 23-point, 11-rebound performance. All that remained to be seen was how that Webster County win would propel the Lady Cavaliers.
Early returns were not promising. Although Treadway started out with a six-point first quarter aided by a Redden three pointer, Summers County outscored West 21-10. Abby Persinger and Avery Lilly each contributed 9 points to the Bobcat effort.
The second quarter was crushing for the Cavaliers. Persinger dropped six more points while West’s field goal shooting was non-existent. The Cavaliers could only muster four points on a pair of free throws from Redden and one each from Treadway and Fields. Lilly added a three-pointer and Carly Persinger knocked down a pair of baskets to lead Summers County to a 34-14 halftime lead.
The third quarter was a little more productive for both teams. Abby Persinger dropped 16 points and Kaylee Cole added six more. Lilly tallied five more points as Summers put a little more distance on the Lady Cavaliers. Fields and Treadway each scored 8 points with a Redden bucket dropped in for good measure. Summers led 59-32 after three.
Greenbrier West was finally able to shave into the Bobcat lead, but it was too little too late. Fields poured in 10 points, Treadway added six, and Redden went 1-2 from the foul line as West outscored Summers County 17-10.
Treadway notched a double-double for West with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Fields narrowly missed a second triple-double in three games with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 steals. Redden was the lone remaining scorer for West with 8 points.
Abby Persinger led all scorers with 33 points. Avery Lilly added 19 more for the Bobcats.
The Cavaliers had no time to dwell on what went wrong in the Summers County loss as they played their third game in as many nights when they traveled to Shady Spring Wednesday night. The Lady Tigers had opened their season with twelve consecutive losses but were working on turning things around after a season-first win over Independence.
Early returns were in favor of Greenbrier West. Fields and Treadway each put up nine points in the first quarter. Fields did her damage from the floor with three field goals and a three-pointer. Treadway hit 5-6 free throws and added a pair of baskets. Lacey Critchley added a three pointer and Brilee Redden added a basket as the Lady Cavaliers built a 23-16 first quarter lead. Peyton Raban led Shady with six points.
The second quarter saw the Lady Cavaliers build on their lead. Fields was steady with six more points and Critchley nailed another three-point basket. Redden chipped in with five points and Sam Holliday added a bucket. Shady Spring got threes from both Austyn Barnes and Kendra Pezzino but fell behind 39-26 at the half.
The Lady Tigers roared back in the third quarter. Pizzino hit three more three-pointers and Barnes added a three as Shady battled back to claim the lead 48-46. West was held to only seven points on a pair of Fields baskets and a free throw as well as two foul shots from Treadway.
Shady claimed the fourth quarter with a balanced scoring effort. Getting scoring output from five players, the Tigers spread the burden across the lineup. Bryanna Shrewsberry led the way with seven points, Meagan Hendrick added a traditional three-point play, and Pezzino added her game-high sixth three-pointer. Barnes and Raban both added Tiger baskets as Shady outscored West 17-13. Fields added seven more points for a game-high 27 points. Treadway collect five more points, and Kenna Fields went 1-2 from the foul line. Shady picked up its second win of the season 64-59, a disappointing outcome for the Cavaliers after three straight nights of action.
Fields added another double-double to her resume while scoring a season-high 27 points and collecting 10 rebounds. Treadway also notched another double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Greenbrier West (6-8) hosts Wirt County (6-10) at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon. Treadway is within striking distance of Gina Osborne’s girls all-time scoring mark of 1,335 points, needing 18 points to surpass the total. Treadway is averaging 23.1 points per game this season. Fields is only 68 points away from joining the 1,000-point club. Fields is averaging 18.2 points per game but has three straight games of scoring 20 plus points.
