Charleston – Coley Tolliver picked a fantastic time to have her coming out party.
Getting the start and playing her first minutes in a state tournament game, the sophomore netted 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, helping No. 5 Wyoming East upend No. 4 Charleston Catholic in a Class AA quarterfinal matchup at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center Tuesday afternoon.
The win sends Wyoming East to the Class AA state semifinals where it will face the winner of James Monroe-Wyoming East on Friday at 1 p.m.
East and Catholic had met previously in the 2022 and 2024 state quarterfinals with the Lady Warriors emerging victorious in both matchups. Tuesday’s affair moved the record to 3-0 in a matchup of programs who combined for four of the last five Class AA titles.
For East Tuesday’s win was all about overcoming a slow start.
The Lady Warriors missed their first 10 field goal attempts and fell down 11-1 to the defending state champions. But they settled in to shoot 21-for-50 the rest of the way, netting eight 3-pointers in the contest.
“The thought was I’m tired of going down double digits before we start playing,” East head coach Ryan Davidson said. “Honestly it’s kind of been a problem. We talked abut it in (the locker room) we’ve had to dig ourselves out of stuff off and on. We thought we had it fixed but we had to try it one more time. But this group, I’m so proud of them.
“I’m proud of their effort, proud of the way they handled their business. I have the absolute utmost respect for Wes (Hevener) over at Charleston Catholic. We would just like to figure out a way to not play each other in the first round.”
Tolliver had a huge role in that, scoring eight points in the opening half including a 3-pointer that brought East back to within three points late in the first frame.
“They have players that can score the basketball,” Catholic head coach Wes Hevener said. “They’re guard oriented and if you watch enough of their game I think you’ll see games in which each of them had double figures. They were extremely balanced. It’s one of those where you try and guard as many as you can and you’re taking and playing off a couple. It’s one of those things that unfortunately (Tolliver) made shots tonight.”
Boosting Tolliver’s effort was senior Kyndal Lusk who, playing in the fifth state tournament game of her career, led the Lady Warriors with 21 points overall on the day.
“I thought she played extremely well,” Davidson said. “At times I get on Kyndal and she knows it. But again she allows me to coach her. She allows me to coach her hard. And that’s why she is who she and that’s why she can do the things she did out there. She’s grown so much since we’ve gotten her at Wyoming East. I love that kid. I’m just so happy for her.”
Capitalizing on a pair of 3s from Tolliver and fellow sophomore Reagan Bower, East cut the deficit to 15-13 after a quarter, tying the game at 15 on a Tolliver layup and taking the lead on a floater form Lusk.
Catholic’s Nora Aliff knotted the game again at 17 but Tolliver and Lusk had an answer again. The former tied the game before Lusk’s 3 with 4:06 to play in the first half put the Lady Warriors ahead 24-22, establishing the lead for good.
The advantage expanded to 31-24 at the break and ballooned to as many as 12 points in the third quarter following a 3 from Lusk and layup from Abi Baker.
Catholic cut the deficit to six with a quick run but a 10-0 run capped by a Bower 3 established an overwhelming 15-point advantage.
Catholic, which played five players until Ilyuana Evans fouled out with 1:38 to play, ran out of gas.
“We were aware of some of their limitation because of injuries,” Davidson said. “A lot of that goes back to what I was saying about (Tolliver). Go find the other team’s bets player and go get them.”
Aside from Lusk and Tolliver’s showings, the Lady Warriors dominated on the glass, out-rebounding the Irish 45-30 with 23 of those boards coming on the offensive glass.
“We’re undserizsed,” Davidson sad. “Rebounding at the beginning of the year was a nightmare. We were just letting people play volleyball until they rebounded it. But we worked at it. It takes work and we go to practice and I’ll tell you all in front of them, if you miss a rebound you’re pushing the sled, period. And when you get off the sled you have to come back and get in the drill and you don’t get to take a play off. That’s the mentality that’s here now.”
Mary Rushworth led Catholic with 20 points while Aliff netted 15 Evans pitched in 13.
Bower notched 10 points while Baker added 12 for East.
About the Author
