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New Richmond – Mingo Central solved half of its Wyoming East problem, holding the Lady Warriors to just two first-quarter points in the Region 3 co-final.
But the Miners struggled themselves to produce points, suffering a familiar fate.
Wyoming East outscored Mingo Central 29-18 in the second half, knocking the Miners out 47-39 Wednesday in New Richmond.
The Lady Warriors, winners of the last two Class AA state championships, earned the No. 4 seed, their lowest in the last 20 years, and will face Region 3 foe James Monroe Tuesday at 9 p.m. in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
For Mingo Central the nightmare played out differently but the end result was the same as the Miners saw their season come to an end at the hands of East for the third time in five years.
“Credit to Wyoming East,” Mingo head coach Kim Davis Smith said. “This is the toughest place to play and they’re a great team. They do what they do best, they defend.”
Early it was Mingo with the advantage on defense and offense. The Miners’ zone looks frustrated East which passed up open looks and turned the ball over six times. The end result was a quarter that saw the hosts shoot 1-of-9 from the field, giving Mingo confidence.
“I think we were trying too hard,” East head coach Ryan Davidson said. “I think we had open shots and we would pass it up for another shot that maybe wasn’t as good. I think it was unselfish. I mean, they were trying to do the right thing, but sometimes you got to take what’s in front of you and I think we were forcing some things that really weren’t there. We just needed to calm down.”
The turnovers hurt the cause with Mingo taking a 7-2 lead on an Addie Smith 3 that came in transition off an East turnover. And while East also forced six turnovers in the opening frame, its transition opportunities were still limited. Unable to score, East wasn’t able to set up its pressure packages on inbounds plays, eliminating early opportunities to steal easy points.
Mingo rode the wave, leading 9-2 after a quarter and 12-4 early in the second frame after a Jayden Bailey three-point play. But the inability to build a larger cushion loomed large.
All-stater Cadee Blackburn, after missing her first four attempts, finally sank one on a 3, helping East to a 5-0 spurt. Smith answered back with her own trey but Blackburn was true again from deep later in the frame slashing the deficit to one at 15-14.
Mingo held through the first half, leading 21-18 at the break but Blackburn, as she has throughout her career, proved to be thorn in Mingo’s side. Her 3-pointer a minute into the half knotted the game at 23 before Abi Baker later gave East its first lead since 2-0 when she capped a three-point play to make it 28-27.
The advantage swelled to 37-29 early in the fourth but a pair of 3s from Smith and Delaney Grimmett brought the Miners back to within two at 37-35.
With an opportunity to tie, Mingo came up short before Blackburn flipped the momentum back East’s way. She finished a three-point play on the ensuing possession for one of East’s two fourth-quarter field goals, pushing the lead to five. It never fell below a two-possession threshold the rest of the way.
“I was really proud of the way that we just kept playing,” Davidson said. “We could have quit. I mean, you could have said, ‘Hey, you know, it’s not gonna happen,’ and start blaming other people. And they didn’t. They just kept playing. I thought Gabby (Cameron) kept us in the game in the first quarter by changing shots at the rim. I thought (Cadee’s) shot was huge, and we kind of felt like if we could just get one to go, that it would be okay, cause we’ve always been built on runs. Whether we like it or not, it is what it is. So it kind of got us going and then you end up with Abi getting a couple and-1 buckets. So it kind of took off from there.”
The state tournament berth marks the fifth connective trip to Charleston for the Lady Warriors who have played in every Class AA state championship game since 2018 (there was no title game in 2020 due to Covid-19). They’ve become accustomed to earning either the No. 1 or 2 seed over that span, making this year’s trek somewhat different.
“You better not take it for granted because there are a lot of people that play basketball in this state and never get to see that floor,” Davidson said. “I think sometimes that’s lost on us because we’ve had so much success that you can lose sight of the little things and how important it is and what they’ve built. For me, the fact that we’re going back down there again – and Mingo gave us a game. That was hard but you got to win hard games down there so I’m just really proud of them.”
Baker led Wyoming East with 15 points while Blackburn finished her final home game with 14.
Smith, a 2,000-point scorer, capped her decorated career with 15 points in the loss.
MC: 9 12 8 10 – 39
WE: 2 16 17 12 – 47
Mingo Central
Addie Smith 15, Delaney Grimmett 9, Giana Akers 4, Jayden Bailey 5, Michaela Swan 6
Wyoming East
Cadee Blackburn 14, Kyndal Lusk 7, Abi Baker 15, Alivia Monroe 5, Gabby Cameron 6
