WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS- For the second year in a row, the Greenbrier East Lady Spartans have been crowned champions of the Battle for the Springhouse tournament held at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur.
And for the second year in a row, they defeated an extremely talented roster to do it.
The Lady Spartans captured a thrilling 57-55 overtime victory over the Class AAAA #4 ranked Morgantown Lady Mohigans, the team that knocked them out of the 2024 state tournament.
Ava Workman scored 30 points, grabbed five rebounds, and in the third quarter, went over the 1,000-point milestone for her stellar career which still has one season left after this one. Her teammate, senior Kennedy Stewart hit the 1,000-career point mark last season, also inside Colonial Hall.
Morgantown’s gameplan in this one was to limit Stewart and not let her get clean looks. Mission accomplished on that front, but Stewart’s Spartan teammates all stepped up to help her out on a night where she went just 2-12 from the field.
The Mohigans jumped ahead from the start with freshman Maddie Ancell knocking down a 3. But a basket from Workman and one of Stewart’s two made shots from 3-point range, and the Spartans took a 5-3 lead. That advantage extended to 10-3 on an acrobatic scoop shot from Workman, but two consecutive triples from Ancell brought Morgantown back to within a point.
Sandy Banton’s 3 put East up 16-9 with just under three minutes left in the quarter but Ancell answered a couple possessions later with four straight points and she had all 13 of her team’s points at that junction. East regrouped, however, and got another 3 from Workman and an impressive shot at the buzzer from Kayla Waller as the Spartans held a 22-13 lead after one.
East went up 24-13 in the second, but the Mohigans began to settle in and went on a 14-7 run for the rest of the half, fueled by Ancell and Sydney Neusenberry and East’s lead was just four, 31-27 at halftime.
The third quarter was all about hard play and defense. The Spartans won the low scoring quarter just 5-4 as both teams could barely get a shot to fall due to the others tenacity and hustle. Workman scored four of those points and Banton added a free throw.
After three quarters, Greenbrier East led 36-31.
Morgantown (11-4) came back and took a 44-41 lead with three minutes left, but Workman sank two freebies to cut it to 44-43. She then went back to the line and made 1-of-2 and knotted the score at 44-all soon after. Hannah Fuller and Mackenna McClure then each split a pair of free throws and at that point, the Lady Spartans led 46-44 with just 3.5 seconds left on the clock. But Morgantown threw a long inbounds pass that eventually ended in Neusenberry’s hands, and she got fouled from behind by Banton who went diving for a steal–she also injured her knee in the process–and Neusenberry went to the charity stripe with 0.7 showing on the clock, calmly sank both, and sent the contest to an extra session.
Workman hit a shot to tie the score at 48-all just a couple minutes into overtime and following two made free throws from McClure that gave East a 50-48 lead, Morgantown’s Ava Clinton hit a corner 3 that made it 51-50, Morgantown and back-and-forth they went.
Minutes later, with East back up 55-52, Neusenberry gathered a long offensive rebound and swished a triple while falling down to tie it with 14 seconds left.
But Workman was right there for answer.
The junior drove to the right side of the paint and made a running one-hander with seven seconds left and the Spartans had a 57-55 lead. With the place going nuts, the Mohigans got a great look on the other end, but Carper Messerly missed a short jumper and the East faithful went wild in celebration.
Workman was the only player in double figures, but Stewart had 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. Banton had 7 rebounds, Fuller had 7 boards and 4 blocks, McClure was everywhere and clutch late, and it was a total team effort from the Lady Spartans.
With the win, East moves to 16-0 on the season and will be back home at Spartan Gym to host Summit Christian this Friday night, Feb. 6.
