Charleston – The buzz has been exterminated.
No. 1 Greenbrier East capped its perfect season with a 27-0 record, ending No. 7 East Fairmont’s cinderella run in a 57-51 thriller Saturday evening in the Class AAA state championship game at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The win marks the third state championship in program history and first since the Lady Spartans won it all in 2012.
Receiving important statistical contributions from all of their starters and key minutes from their reserves, the Spartans never trailed in a contest where their largest lead was 10 points, dropping to five late in the final frame.
“They were on a nice run, they played us really competitive at our place and they were unbelievably good defensievly,” Greenbrier East head coach and West Virginia Senator Jim Justice said of East Fairmont. “They’re really, really rough. We got as ready for that as we could possible be. We out-rebounded them big time – I think we had 30 offensive rebounds. Honestly, offensive rebounds are only second to taking a charge and that really helped.”
East’s starters played key roles in the victory that saw the Lady Spartans out-rebound the undersized Bees 59-24. Hannah Fuller collected her second double-double with 16 points and 17 rebounds, Kennedy Stewart led the scoring barrage with 18 points and four 3s and Ava Workman held the Bees’ top player in Kailee Haymond – third all-time leading-scorer in school history – to just two points in 32 minutes, both of which came from the free throw line.
“My role today … She was not allowed to score when I was guarding her,” Workman said of the matchup. “And she didn’t. She did not score when I was guarding her. She had (two) points on a foul that I didn’t not foul her on.”
“Honestly, they know a lot of stuff,” Justice said. “You should remember this for all your life and it’s one thing – in life if you don’t have the passion and you don’t really buy into something no matter you’re doing, it’s not going to work. But when you surely buy in and you’ve got that passion it’s going to take you a long, long ways. We beat an awfully good basketball team today.”
Playing her final game as a Spartan, Stewart lit the offensive dynamite, drawing first blood on a driving layup and following with a 3 for a 5-2 lead. East Fairmont’s Emma Moore answered with a trey on the other end before Kala Waller joined the splash party for the Lady Spartans with one of her, giving the top seed the lead for good.
Stewart continued her early tear with another layup before the lead expanded to as many as seven points at the end of the quarter. The start was a continuation of Stewart’s 20-point outing in the semifinal victory over Keyser.
“I felt like (in the semifinal) I had a lot of confidence coming in and I just had to continue that today,” Stewart said. “We worked together to get each other open and made shots.”
East Fairmont quickly cut the lead to two following a Kasey Rogers 3 and a jumper from Emma Moore, both of whom picked up the scoring slack with Haymond tightly guarded by Workman. But the Spartans had an answer each time with Stewart answering a Moore 3, extending Greenbrier East’s lead at 25-21 with the advantage sitting at 29-24 at the break.
The Bees adjusted well after the intermission limiting Stewart, the eventual Class AAA All-Tournament MVP, to just three points in the second half.
Fuller became the x-factor, though, scoring 14 points and grabbing 13 rebounds (nine offensive) in the second half alone.
“We had a tough time matching up with (Fuller),” East Fairmont head coach James Beckman said. “Matching up with her size, if you look at the rebounding we’re well aware of the mismatch and controlling the glass. Those are points of emphasis but when you’re 5-foot-5 trying to battle 6-foot it’s a tall task at that.”
Fuller helped the Spartans stave off another charge from the Bees, scoring four consecutive points for her team to answer a quick East Fairmont spurt. Stewart followed with another 3 for what were fittingly the last points of her career, feeding Fuller at the rim to cap a 7-0 run that pushed the lead to nine points.
A pair of free throws from the senior center to conclude the frame put Greenbrier East ahead 45-39 and ensured East Fairmont never came within a possession of taking the lead the rest of the way despite a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute.
“I’ll talk about her performance!” Stewart said emphatically about Fuller. “She went and got the ball! She wanted it! She went and got the egg-sucking ball. Every day! Sometimes she doesn’t want it but today she wanted it. Everyone did!”
Amongst East’s 27 wins were 14 victories against ranked or state tournament teams.
The run brings an end to the careers of contributing seniors such as Stewart, Fuller, Kala Waller, Mackenna McClure, Kiki Bagut and Sandy Banton.
“We have been through so much adversity,” Justice said. “And what do we keep telling ourselves? Nobody ever said this was going to be fair. You’re going to have to deal with a lot of adversity in life. Just suck it up and lets go. They did it. If you can only imagine – the perfect season.”
Stewart, who earned tournament MVP honors, was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Workman and McClure as well as Bibs Felton (Keyser), Karson Jones (Nitro), Rogers (East Fairmont), Haymond (East Fairmont) and Moore (East Fairmont).
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