It is always a big game, and the atmosphere around the Greenbrier East Lady Spartans and Woodrow Lady Flying Eagles on Friday night, February 25 was no different.
Hundreds of fans packed the stands at Spartan Gym to witness East’s 49-34 victory in the Region 3, Section 2 championship game.
With the win, the Spartans will return home this Wednesday, March 2 to face the George Washington Patriots. The winner of that contest will advance to the state tournament in Charleston.
The series has had controversies surrounding it for many years, but none was bigger than two years ago in Fairlea when a scuffle beside the Woodrow bench resulted in arrests, ejections and unrest. Then earlier this season, Woodrow came to Fairlea struggling, but defeated the Spartans 55-50 in a shocking upset.
But the Spartans had the last laugh this time.
Brooke Davis opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the right-wing, but a couple of possessions later Woodrow’s Abby Dillon answered with one of her own and put the Eagles up 5-3, early.
Allie Dunford then hit a three, Davis followed with a two and Layla Pence started her big night with an offensive rebound kick out pass to Cadence Stewart who swished a long-range bomb, and East was up 11-7 late in the quarter.
It ended 13-7 after one.
The Spartans extended their lead to 17-9 after a Daisha Summers jumper and two free throws from her as well. The lead then went to 19-9 on a Stewart bucket that was set up by two ferocious blocks by Davis and Pence on Dillon.
Latoya Creasey tried to keep Woodrow close with a trifecta that made the score 19-12 and then she hit another to end the first half as the Spartans were holding onto a slim 21-17 lead.
East continued their stellar play in the second half, especially on the defensive end. They challenged Woodrow on seemingly every shot attempt and did not allow the Eagles very many clean looks at the rim.
On top of that, their offense started clicking more. Dunford had a big three early in the third quarter and Stewart followed with seven consecutive East points sandwiched around an Olivia Ziolkowski basket. At that point, it was the Spartans ahead 32-22 with three minutes left in the third.
“I think we had more heart than they did,” injured East guard Caroline Dotson said after the game.
A Dillon corner three pulled the Eagles within five at 32-27, but Dunford erased that on the next possession with another trey. A Stewart old fashion three-point play with 1.9 seconds left in the third gave the Spartans a 38-27 lead heading to the fourth.
Both teams started slow in the final period, but Davis finally came through when she drilled a dagger 3-pointer that put East up 43-30 with 5:36 left. It was a momentum-gaining shot for the Spartans and a momentum killer for the Eagles.
Pence continued to crash the boards and play strong inside which never allowed Ziolkowski to become a threat to score underneath.
“I’ve always had a dream of going to the state tournament and I’m very thankful and I hope we do good next week against GW,” Pence said.
“I really hope we can play as well as we did tonight against them,” Pence reiterated.
East hit just enough free throws down the stretch and played stingy defense, and sealed their most important victory to this point of the season.
“I think we underestimated them a little the first time we played them and tonight we just wanted it more,” Dotson said.
East held Beckley to 22 percent shooting overall and just 16 percent from 3-point range.
The Spartans did not shoot it particularly well at 32 percent, but got the job done in other areas.
Stewart led the Spartans with 19 points. Dunford had 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Davis scored 11.
The player of the game, however was Pence. She pulled down 17 rebounds with 10 of those on the offensive end.
Dillon led Beckley with 12 points. Ziolkowski had 16 rebounds.
Stats and quotes courtesy of 95.3, WRLB.
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