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Gardner – Nicholas County senior Adrienne Truman is a state champion high-jumper but admits she participates in track to condition for basketball.
Aiming to defend her title, she’ll have to wait at least another week to do so.
Truman scored 10 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter Friday, coming away with a pair of clinching steals in the final 90 seconds as the Grizzlies ended No. 4 PikeView’s season with a 62-58 victory in the Class AAA Region 3 semifinals in Gardner.
The win sends Nicholas County, the No. 5 seed, to the co-regional title game where it will face No. 1 Greenbrier East in Fairlea on Wednesday, March 6 with a spot in the Class AAA state tournament game on the line.
Truman, who also grabbed 14 rebounds, struggled for much of the first half, shooting 2 of 10 from the field until she canned a half-court buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter. That seemed to be the spark that ignited her.
Her most important contributions came in the final 90 seconds where, trailing 54-53, she grabbed a rebound, ran the break and hit Taylor White for a layup to make it 55-54. Her steal on the ensuing possession added to the chaos as she hit White in transition for a 3 to push the lead to 58-54. Four made free throws and a steal in a 61-58 game with 14 seconds left put the bow on a spectacular performance.
“I was really just looking for a steal, not to foul, and I saw Taylor go to the other side and I just winged it to her honestly,” Truman laughed. “ I’m so glad she made it.”
For PikeView Truman’s steals told the story of the night.
The Panthers turned the ball over 20 times – eight times in the fourth quarter. Combined with a 35 percent (24 of 69) shooting clip that featured numerous missed layups, the hosts rarely found a flow.
We just didn’t shoot it well,” PikeView he’d coach Tony Mallamaci said. “We got good shots. We got a lot of shots. A lot of layups were missed.”
The Panthers found themselves in trouble early, falling behind 5-0 following a 3 from Olivia Stone and a pair of free throws from Madison Coffman. White later added a 3 to make it 8-2 for the hosts, a lead that eventually expanded to 12-4.
Trailing by as many as nine points in the first quarter, the Panthers clawed back to make it a 21-15 game after a quarter but were hit with another wave when a Truman 3 in the second quarter pushed the Grizzlies’ advantage to 10 points at 29-19.
The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run, fueled by Tylar Burks, Haley Justice and Jocelyn Hall, cutting the deficit to three points at the break. The Panthers eventually took the lead at 37-35 on a pair of Jaelynn Shrewsbury free throws but Truman’s buzzer beater put the visitors ahead 40-39 after three.
A 7-2 charge, led by a layup and 3 from Stone, pushed the Grizzlies ahead 47-41 but the Panthers again roared back, tying the game twice and taking the lead a 54-53, courtesy of Riley Meadows.
That’s where Truman took over .
“She bought in and she’s being the player that that I need her to be in the postseason,” Nicholas County head coach Kameron Hornsby said of Truman. “She got a little frustrated there in the first half, shots weren’t falling and she did a really good job of rebounding there. Taking a steal – she’s a state champion of high jumping and I put her right in the middle where I know that she can make her money picking people off almost like a cornerback or a free safety. We do a really good job, my other guards when they see Adrienne get the ball, they’re running down the floor, getting ready to spot up and shoot.”
Weathering the storms was a point of emphasis for Nicholas County which felt like it could win coming in. The Grizzlies lost by just eight points when the two teams met in Summersville on Jan. 30.
“I can say that I’ve been blessed that all my kids are fighters,” Hornsby said. “Every kid that I’ve had that have came into the program, whether they finished or they didn’t finish, they’re gonna go out for the count. I mean they’re gonna get on the floor for loose balls, they’re gonna weather storms. Sometimes we fall up short. I mean, the last four years at Sissonville, we’ve made it a game in the sectional at the time and we fell up short. And it was time for us to turn the table a little bit and see what happens when we do get those extra buckets.”
In her final game as a Panther Haley Justice led PikeView with 16 points and 20 rebounds while Meadows netted 12 to go with nine rebounds.
Madison Coffman pitched in 11 points for the Grizzlies.
NC: 21 8 11 22 – 62
PV: 15 11 13 19 – 58
Nicholas County
Adrienne Truman 25, Olivia Stone 9, Taylor White 8, Tateny Mylott 2, Brooklyn Noncey 7, Madison Coffman 11
PikeView
Riley Meadows 12, Haley Justice 16, Karis Trump 6, Jaelynn Shrewsbury 12, Tylar Burks 5, Jocelyn Hall 7
