Charleston – Wyoming East has built a dynasty on suffocating teams with defense.
James Monroe replicated that same formula to bring that era to a halt.
The No. 5-seeded Mavericks generated 21 Wyoming East turnovers, blocked six shots and held Wyoming East to 32 percent (16-of-49) shooting from the field in a 50-44 victory over the two-time defending state champions Tuesday night in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The win sends the Lady Mavs to the Class AA semis where they’ll face No. 1 Wheeling Central on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
In a year where East’s offense struggled in stretches, that theme held true again. The fatal blow was a 10:57 drought across the second, third and fourth quarters that saw the Lady Warriors go without a field goal.
The third quarter was worst amongst them as East saw a 24-21 advantage flip into a 32-26 lead for the Mavericks after three quarters.
“As much as I hate to admit it, it’s been us all year,” East head coach Ryan Davidson said. “We’ve just gone through droughts where we could not score the basketball. If it wasn’t for the way we defend, we probably would have lost more games. We’ve worked on it, it’s just that we’ve struggled sometimes – and it’s not bad shots – sometimes the thing just doesn’t go in the hole. In a lot of ways we found ways to figure it out but we just couldn’t do it tonight.”
James Monroe had many of the same struggles, shooting just 33 percent (18-of-54) from the field, but always found a way to get a bucket or a stop when it needed it. And it usually came via Dunlap sisters Ava and Mya who combined for 30 points.
Clinging to a four-point lead with just under two minutes to play, Mya fired an open three from the left wing, effectively ending East’s comeback bid with a 45-38 lead and 1:45 remaining.
“There was a couple of seconds left, I think I had to pull up” Ava said. “Thankfully it went in.”
The sisters were a continuous thorn all night, scoring nine of the Mavericks’ 11 points in the first quarter, doing so from a variety of spots on the floor.
Trailing 11-10 after a quarter, East found a spark when all-stater Cadee Blackburn opened the second with a 3, adding another to push the advantage to 18-16. A layup from Abi Baker expanded it to 4 but the sisters halted the stretch with Mya nailing a mid-range jumper and Ava following with a 3. Four straight points form Baker to close the half gave the Lady Warriors a lead but her layup with 1:55 remaining was the last field goal the Lady Warriors saw fall through the net until the 6:58 mark of the fourth.
“We stayed in our 3-2 and played it like we normally do,” James Monroe head coach Angie Mann said. “We subbed in when we had to, we went after rebounds harder. We paid more attention and we stayed more alert. Communicated better and just had to step it up.”
James Monroe suffered through its own struggles during that drought, connecting at a 28 percent (4-of-14) clip during it but the Dunlaps were there again to save the day with Mya canning a pull-up 3 at the buzzer to put the Mavs ahead 32-26.
East drew within three points when Rylee Brown snapped the skid with a 3 early in the fourth but an Ava Dunlap layup pushed the advantage to nine, forcing East to chase the rest of the way.
Quality looks were scarce but the 21 turnovers didn’t help the cause. James Monroe was active in passing lanes, stealing 13 passes with Kendall Long nabbing six of them.
“In a game like that both teams are going to have a lot of turnovers,” Mann said. “It’s back-and-forth. Defensively, let me say Kendall Long, defensively she created a lot of turnovers as a freshman. She did a great job reading the basketball. She’s come a long way.”
The loss squashes East’s hopes of winning a third consecutive Class AA state title and marks the first time since 2017 that a Class AA title game will be played without the Lady Warriors (2020 title game was not played due to Covid and East did not qualify for the state tournament).
It also brings an end to the careers of seniors Cadee Blackburn, Alivia Monroe and Gabby Cameron, key pieces of the Lady Warriors’ dynasty.
“I told them in there, in the locker room that we’ve been blessed to be in this tournament a lot,” Davidson said. “And the way that we feel right now, we’ve done that to a lot of people. And don’t let that be lost on you that you’re gonna win and you’re gonna lose. And tonight wasn’t our night. That’s the way things work, and James Monroe is a really good basketball team. There’s a lot of good teams in this tournament and it’s never gonna take away from the fact of what this group has done, and the kind of people that I know they are and they’re gonna be the rest of their lives because of the things that they’ve gone through. Win or lose, you gotta learn from it and be the same person, win or lose. And I’m proud of them.”
Mya Dunlap led the Lady Mavs with 16 points while older sister Ava netted 14. Maggie Boroski added 10 rebounds.
Cadee Blackburn led East with 15 points while Abi Baker netted 11.
