FAIRLEA- Ava Workman scored 29 points on Saturday night, Dec. 6 to lead the Class AAA 2nd ranked Greenbrier East Lady Spartans to a thrilling season-opening 74-69 victory over a good John Marshall Lady Monarchs team, ranked 8th in AAA.
It was a one-possession game with under 10 seconds left before two Kennedy Stewart free throws put it out of reach in East’s favor.
Workman set the tone in the first quarter and looked ready to prove her junior season will be her best yet.
She scored eight first quarter points and did so in a variety of ways. Mackenna McClure added five points and made a couple hustle plays and Kala Waller knocked in a 3 off the bench. Mia Miller and Rilee Storm did their part to keep the Monarchs close as Greenbrier East (1-0) led 20-16 in the first quarter.
To put the second quarter bluntly, the Lady Spartans were awesome, especially Workman.
The point guard took complete control of the period. She hit two shots from deep, penetrated into the paint for scores on the inside and went 2-for-2 from the free throw line. In total, she scored 16 of her team’s 28 points. Hannah Fuller also made her presence felt and scored five points and pulled down numerous rebounds.
At halftime, the Spartans looked to be in control and led 48-31.
But John Marshall (0-1) never wavered or gave up. Kaylee White hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter and John Marshall hit six as a team as they constantly broke the Greenbrier East press and got wide open 3s on the other end.
Stewart did what she could to keep the Spartans momentum going however, as East led 62-52 after three.
Two Storm free throws cut the score to 67-63, Spartans with 3:10 left to play. A couple minutes later, Kalyn Reese secured an offensive rebound and scored and the scoreboard at that showed a 69-67 Lady Spartan lead with 1:23 left.
With the Spartans ahead 71-67 with about 40 seconds left, John Marshall decided to settle for 3-pointers, which they missed, and Stewart went to the line and knocked down two from the charity stripe to give Greenbrier East a crucial early season win.
Stewart finished with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. McClure had 10 points, Fuller had 9 points and 10 boards, and Sandy Banton got 8 points and 5 rebounds.
Waller was the only other scorer for East with 5 points.
Reese led the Monarchs with 17 points and White added 16. Storm contributed 15.
East will return to action on Friday, December 12 at Nitro.
