Charleston – Greenbrier East has leaned into its pressure defense to impose its will throughout a spotless season thus far.
That strategy proved effective again.
The top-seeded Spartans improved to 25-0 on the season, forcing 23 Hampshire turnovers in a 64-36 victory over No. 8 Hampshire in the Class AAA quarterfinal round Wednesday evening at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The win sends the Spartans to the Class AAA semifinals for the second consecutive season where they’ll face the winner of Keyser-John Marshall on Friday at 11:15 a.m.
East led wire-to-wire, capitalizing on its opportunistic defense which helped it overcome the offensive struggles from beyond the arc (2-for-16). The Spartans finished shooting 24-for-50 inside of it, nearly 50 percent.
Leading much of that charge was senior Mackenna McClure whose seven steals at the top of East’s press accounted for nearly a third of the Trojans’ turnovers, creating easy looks in transition.
“Nobody can take anything away from Mackenna McClure,” East head coach and U.S. Senator Jim Justice said. “Mackenna is the glue to this team in every way and she’s been a starter for four years. She got injured last year and missed half of the season. But Mackenna is the real deal. We miss Sandy (Banton) but Mackenna, when we went to a 2-2-1 out of the diamond press, right when we went – see that’s the thing they know a lot of stuff.
“As soon as went to the 2-2-1 it was different. Mackenna stole the ball back-to-back. I think (Kennedy Stewart) hit a nice two or three out of that. But you can’t say enough about Mackenna.”
McClure was key cog in what proved to be a balanced attack with McClure, Hannah Fuller and Kennedy Stewart all hitting double figures in the victory.
Stewart, typically a sharpshooter from beyond the arc attempted only four 3s, connecting on one. She did most of her damage on the third quarter, settling in to score eight of her 13 points in the frame that saw East start to distance itself.
“Just our defense,” Stewart said of what got her going. “Mackenna, she finds me in transition a lot, I just had to make the shots when it counted.”
East’s offense started slow, netting just six points over the first five minutes but holding Hampshire scoreless over that same time frame. The lead stood at 10-6 after a quarter but East threatened to blow the game open when it started the second on an 11-2 run, pushing the lead to as many as 14 points at 27-13. But a 7-2 Hampshire charge to close the half kept the Trojans afloat.
Ahead 36-25 in the third, Stewart took over.
A pair of free throws ignited her before a pair of field goals created the separation at 42-25.
A 10-2 run to open the final frame put the contents away for good.
“These kids have been tougher a long time and they appreciate being here,” Justice said. “It’s really unbelievable time of year for all of us but if you step back form that and realize they’re all just kids and they started the game kind of nervous and then some things didn’t go their way. You don’t want to take anything away from Hampshire – they’re well-coached and have some nice kids.
“We kind of got it going halfway but really and truly, I know they very well got another gear. They only had six turnovers, Hannah stepped up tonight. Ava (Workman) didn’t have her game but she’s superstar in every book and Kennedy stepped up right at the time we expected her too and they were keying on Ava and Kennedy the whole games it gave our other kids an opportunity to step up and do something good.”
Hampshire’s Della Knight led all players with 20 points while Fuller paced East with 16 points and 14 rebounds in the win.
About the Author
