Charleston – Years that end in the number five continue to be good for Westside.
A state championship appearance in 2005, a semifinal berth in 2015 and now another trip to the semifinals in 2025.
Class AA No. 3 Westside scorched the nets Tuesday morning, shooting 54 percent from the field in an 83-53 rout of No. 6 Doddridge County in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The win sends the Renegades to the Class AA semifinals where they’ll face the winner of No. 2 Wheeling Central-No. 7 Ritchie County on Thursday at 11:15 a.m.
Leading 22-17 two minutes into the second quarter, the Renegades built a cushion with a 13-0 lead, blowing the game open from there.
“We switched over to zone,” Westside head coach Nick Cook said. “ I don’t know if we switched during that time or not, but we switched over to the zone, because we knew the two keys for us, we thought, were keeping them from getting to the rim and then rebounding. I think we ended up with a rebounding edge, by seven or eight and then cut down their penetration, which I thought helped us. So I think switching to the zone – I doubt many people have probably prepared for zone. I don’t know if we’ve played it this year, honestly.
“And then on top of that the way these guys shot the ball they went out and put the ball in the basket.”
Battling early, the Renegades closed the first quarter with an 8-0 run, with a pair of 3-point shots from Austin Bishop and Kadien Vance. A transition pass from Vance to Bryson Blankenship for a layup pushed the lead to double digits at 22-12 before A 3 and a jumper from Doddridge County’s Will Adams cut the deficit to five.
It was all Westside from there.
Vance and Blankenship kicked off the run with a pair of layups before Bishop and Vance connected on a pair of 3s. Freshman Bradyn Waldron capped the sprint with the third long ball of the quarter, helping the Renegades to a 37-21 lead at the break.
After hitting at a 48 percent clip (12-of-25) in the first half, Westside hit its stride in the third quarter, overwhelming the Bulldogs with an 11-of-16 showing from the field with four of its five 3-point attempts finding the bottom of the net.
Vance started the second-half barrage with a trey before Bryson Blankenship scored five straight points. Bishop’s 3 and Kyler Kenneda’s layup pushed the lead to 50-25, effectively ending any upset bid.
That hot-shooting showing carried into the fourth quarter where the Renegades capped their stellar performance with an 8-of-16 clip from the field.
Vance in particular was effective, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 6-of-8 from 3 on the morning.
“I hadn’t seen Vance shoot that many,” Doddridge head coach Todd Burnside said. “He’s usually tearing things up inside. But as he proved today, he can both play inside and outside. We knew that they had some shooters, but as far as that type of proficiency, I hadn’t seen that yet. But hats off to them. They came out and made plays.”
The efficiency from outside the arc was as much a surprise to Vance who felt the nerves coming in.
“I threw up three times this morning if that tells you anything,” Vance laughed. “I was so nervous from the moment that I fell asleep last night until to honestly, our first bucket. I felt so sick.”
For as good as the Renegades were offensively, they paired the performance well with their defense, holding Doddridge to 31 percent (21-of-66) shooting from the field. Bryson Blankenship in particular proved key, holding Doddridge’s 6-foot-8 center Jaden Solomon scoreless on two shot attempts.
“Bryson Blankenship done a really good job on defense on him,” Cook said.
Vance led the ensemble with 26 points while Coltin Lester netted 15 with 10 rebounds. Bishop added 14 points and Bryson Blankenship added 11.
Josh Dehaven led Doddridge with 20 points in the loss.
