Hinton – Summers County made the decision to playa zone defense all day and Pocahontas County made the decision to punish it.
The Warriors canned 11 3-pointers Saturday evening, routing the Lady Bobcats 55-27 in the Rogers Oil Classic championship game at Summers County High School.
The gamble Summers made was Pocahontas would go cold from downtown. That never happened as 33 of the 57 shots the visitors from Dunmore fired up were from beyond the arc, nailing 33 percent of them.
The sheer volume was enough to start burying the Bobcats before halftime.
“We did struggle but I made up my mind we were going to play zone,” Summers head coach Doug Trail said. “We were going to make them make some and with Jaelynn (Boone) not I there tonight our defense just wasn’t the same. I just didn’t feel like we could get out there and defend them. I wanted to extend the defense some but we just got tired and we couldn’t go. The first quarter we were down two and we hung in there and I think we had one bucket in the second quarter. You can’t survive like that.”
Pocahontas County happily took what Summers presented on defense.
“(Trail) surprised me,” Pocahontas head coach Tim McClung said. “When he came out in a zone against us I was surprised. Coming down here to Summers County for years, I think back to when (Ron) Williams was coaching and then Wayne (Ryan) took over, it’s always been man to man. I know we shoot the ball well with our two greta wings. When people come out on you we try to pound it down inside. I don’t like taking that many 3s but if we’re going to make 33 percent of them, I’ll let them continue to do it.”
Missing starting point guard Jaelynn Boone who suffered a lower leg injury in Friday’s win over Shady Spring, Summers was already trying to compensate for her loss on offense.
The Bobcats fared well early, getting five first quarter points from freshman Lynnzie Farley and trailing just 12-10 after a quarter. But reality hit like a tidal wave in the second frame.
Fittingly Savana Sharp, who earned tournament MVP honors, nailed a trey to open the quarter before Calli Propst hit on a layup. Alex Arbogast followed with another, extending the advantage to 19-10. Sharp made it rain with another 3 and a free throw before converting on a layup to make it 25-10, capping a 13-0 run.
Farley snapoed the skid with a layup but it proved to be the only Summers bucket of the frame.
In a game where the Lady Bobcats finished just 12 of 50 from the field, a 28-12 deficit proved too much to overcome, especially with Pocahontas nailed seven more 3s in the second half.
“Our freshman point guard, Ellie Meadows, I thought she handled the pressure well,” Trail said. “The rets of my Kidds too around and until that changes and all five of us decide we’re going to go rebound and stop fumbling the basketball out of bounds and giving it back to them – there was a stretch there I the third quarter I called timeout. Two times in a row we went out, got an offensive rebound, fumbled it and they scored.”
Summers got back within 12 easy in the third quarter but 3s from Sharp and Propst quickly extinguished any hope of a Bobcat rlly.
“I thought our pressure helped us play into our offense,” McClung said. “Even if we’e not staling the basketball we’e getting that upstage and it gets everyone back and I learned it from Wayne Ryan just to be honest you.”
Sharp finished with a game-high 25 points while Arbogast netted 14.
Farley led Summers with 11 points.
Farley, Bennett, Sharp, Arbogast and Propst earned all-tour ament honors.
Pocahontas County
Savana Sharp 25, Alexis Arbogast 14, Allyson Taylor 4, Shayla Barnett 3, Calli Propst 7, Calie Arnett 2
Summers County
Hadley Bennett 4, Kaylee Cole 3, Carly Persinhger 3, Lynnzie Farley 11, Ellie Meadows 2
About the Author
