Welcome back to The Deep Post!
One of my favorite editions of the Deep Post is the one that follows up the state tournament and this year there’s much to talk about. I’ll list a table of contents for those that have had their attention spans zapped but as always I’ll appreciate if you stay until the end!
- South back on top
- Gave ’em Hellvey
- In the bag
- Defense Dominant
- The Future
- Greenbrier East’s role players step up
- The D is for Defense
- Wyoming East’s Future
- Davidson’s Monologue
- Princeton shows promise
This edition is special because for the first time since 2012 we have not one but two girls basketball state champions hailing from our area. In an ironic twist Greenbrier East has been one of two winners on both occasions, pairing with Westside 14 years ago.
The south is back on top
There have been accusations of a southern bias statewide for the last several years, mainly as it pertains to all-state. I wrote about it last year but the area just experiences more success than most others in basketball. Two state champions from neighboring counties just affirms that.
I didn’t say to be controversial, it’s just the lay of the land especially as it pertains to Class AA.
On a personal note I’m happy for the communities that won. Greenbrier and Monroe County-based businesses have been some of my biggest supporters in launching Play Sheet Sports, support that spawned from community outcry.
Live it up!
Gave ’em Hellvey
I had two impressions of Shari Helvey before she took the James Monroe job back in November – she was loud (she sat behind media row as a spectator the last two years, cheering James Monroe on) and she was a great basketball player.
After three months of working with her I understand why she might be one of the most beloved people in all of southern West Virginia. She’s loquacious in a positive way, energetic with a magnetic personality, can seemingly befriend a rock, likes Taylor Swift and commands the respect of her peers with the way she carries herself.
Her success as a player came at the expense of many others but nobody has a bad thing to say about her!
Personally, her unsolicited public endorsement after I publicized we were looking to add more advertisers ahead of the state tournament opened up several doors, which I’m eternally grateful for. She just seems like a genuine person.
Think about it? How many of those “Give ‘Em Hellvey” shirts did you see adorn the lower bowl of the coliseum this week? Enough to raise over $1,000. She might have the most recognizable face in Charleston after that.
It also helps she’s a winner, a magnetic trait.
There’s a litmus test I use to gauge how good a coach is or can be and in my first conversation with Helvey she passed. We spoke about the task of going through private schools in double-A.
“If you’re good enough it doesn’t matter,” she said.
This, after we experienced a title game that exclusively featured private schools in 2025. On another occasion she said she probably didn’t deserve to be the Class AA all-state captain her senior year when they lost to Sissonville. I later asked her who did and after thinking about it she said she probably should’ve been co-captains with a teammate.
Here’s the deal – if you’re always looking for an excuse or variable to blame, you struggle with diagnosing and addressing the real problem at hand. I’ve never heard Shari complain about officials.
Another great, title winning coach once told me, “We don’t blame or worry about officials because if we’re doing our job the way we’re supposed to then we’re going to take the game out of their hands completely.”
It’s similar to Princeton football coach Nate Tanner’s no BCD (Blamin’, Complainin’ or being Defensive) mantra.
Notice there’s a common thread between these title-winning coaches and their philosophies?
Helvey came in with goals to prepare her kids to play high-level ball. She leaned into a man-to-man defense, a departure from their zone defense of previous years. She stuck with the program’s goal of playing top tier opponents and even expanded on it, big game hunting out-of-region teams such as Nitro, Beckley, Charleston Catholic and Philip Barbour. They even tried to get Parkersburg South and Greenbrier East – teams that played in the Class AAA and AAAA title games, respectively.
She also wanted to teach her kids how to run and execute their plays efficiently. They did just that and did it well. Go watch the double screen they ran to get Mya Dunlap her first 3 of the state title game.
I don’t know that Shari has had to buy a beer in Monroe County after what she did as a player but she definitely won’t have to now, reaching the pinnacle as both a player and coach.
Give ’em Hellvey? Gave ’em Hellvey.
In the Bag
Anything can happen when you’re talking about 14-18 year-old kids, especially ones on the younger end of that spectrum. But I felt the championship was secured in James Monroe’s semifinal game.
The Lady Mavs shot 1-for-27 from 3. AND STILL WON GOING AWAY!
How many teams can you think of are afforded the opportunity to miss 26 consecutive 3-pointers and win by 19 in a state semifinal game? That’s an insane margin for error.
If that’s the low end of the spectrum the law of averages indicates there will be a correction.
There was.
Watching Williamstown’s semifinal game against Wheeling Central that morning, I thought they’d struggle with James Monroe. They were mostly small but quick enough to give Central’s height fits. James Monroe has, height, speed and athleticism so even if you do manage to beat one of their defenders you have to worry about the help defense as well as the recovering defender getting you from behind.
It’s not mean, it’s genetics.
Mya and Lydia Dunlap are what I call Jurassic Park athletes – bio-engineered to make your life miserable.
It’s not like Williamstown was new to this stage.
Quinn Bunch and Arissa Burt were starters who played a combined 60 minutes in the 2024 title game, leading by 11 points with under 4:29 to play in the game.
I thought the title game performance was the best of the nine games I saw James Monroe play this season considering the magnitude of the game. The only other comparable one was probably their game at Wyoming East.
The scary part? Nobody outside of Mya Dunlap hit a 3 so it still could’ve been worse. After beating East in Charleston, the title game felt like a formality for James Monroe.
Defense Dominant
My introduction to championship basketball came via Wyoming East’s overwhelming defense and on-ball pressure. It’s why I often reference those teams. That was almost always the deciding factor in the three championship games they won.
James Monroe’s defensive run was similar to those statistically.
- Held opposing teams to just 24 percent shooting across three state tournament games.
- Held opposing teams to just 3-for-33 shooting from beyond the arc.
- Forced 21.3 turnovers per game in the state tournament.
- Average margin of victory was 26 points.
It’s fun to see the defining parallels of title runs play out.
I thought Kendall Long in particular was a fun watch. She reminds me a lot of former Wyoming East all-stater Abby Russell in how she pesters opposing guards on defense. It’s difficult to do that for 94 feet every possession but she does. She’s difficult to shake and accepts that task willingly.
Defensive performances like that give you margin for error and as much as James Monroe struggled on offense in the semifinal game, part of the reason it still won by 19 is the fact it held Wyoming East to just 10 made field goals and 0-for-12 from beyond the arc after hitting 8 3-pointers in the quarterfinal round.
Williamstown head coach Danny Bunch said he thought there was a lid on the bucket in the title game.
I think he meant to say Lyd.
Defense still wins championships.
The Future
Saturday felt like the birth of a James Monroe dynasty.
Who challenges them if they stay healthy?
They’ll bring back all 11 varsity players, eight of which were underclassmen this year. Mya Dunlap was the only starting upperclassman. Key reserves such as Grayson Johnson and Chylin Eggleston are freshmen as is Lydia Dunlap who was the team’s leading scorer this season.
Looking around double-A the challenger pool doesn’t look deep. Wheeling Central graduates nearly every one of its starters. Williamstown brings back a couple of pieces from a team that just lost to the Mavs by 24. Wyoming East graduates three senior starters. If Charleston Catholic brings everybody back they’ll have a solid core but lack depth. Logan was a top 10 team that was young but trailed James Monroe by 30 on their own court. Philip Barbour could present a challenge, losing just one senior from a team that competed well with James Monroe.
There are far from any guarantees in high school sports but double-A feels out of reach for the foreseeable future.
Greenbrier East’s role players step up
In 2018 Greenbrier East used to have halftime competitions as entertainment where two kids would have to dress in oversized clothes and shoes and make shot before the other.
One of those winners?
A very young Mackenna McClure.
While her sister Haley was working on becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer she was giving us a glimpse of what was to come.
The younger McClure had an outstanding state tournament, filling up the stat sheet as a rebounder, defender and scorer. Her length was problematic for Hampshire in East’s pressure and keyed a spurt where they put the quarterfinal game away. I thought her ability to move on ball also helped alleviate some of the pressure stars Ava Workman and Kennedy Stewart faced when they have to bring it up.
Fellow starter Kala Waller hit a couple shots that were key last week and Hannah Fuller had the week of her life, averaging a double-double with big performances in the quarterfinals and championship games.
One of my worries for East when Sandy Banton went down was how would her fellow role players step in and replace her production? There were a few rocky weeks where Workman and Stewart had to largely outpace everyone to win. You don’t have to score 20 every night but a 14-point showing helps lessen the load.
East’s role players really stepped up this week.
Workman averaged just 11 points per game (down from her regular season average of 19.6 ppg) this week, a luxury I’m not sure East could’ve survived three weeks ago.
This win was as much about what the role players were able to provide as it was the stars.
The D is for Defense
Workman averaged 11 points per game this past week, down from her season average, right? Well, 11 is still greater than two.
Two, as in the number of points she allowed East Fairmont’s best player in Kailee Haymond to score in the title game, both of which came from the free throw line. Allowing two points in general is impressive but consider that Haymond is the third leading scorer all-time for a school that’s been around for 100 years. She only managed to get off five shots in 32 minutes and Workman played all 32 minutes as well.
“We knew it was going to happen,” Haymond said. “We went into the game knowing she was going to guard me like that because they had to go to that last game,” Haymond said. “She did a good job on me. She did a great job. I don’t have – we knew we had to get it to other girls.
The only other time I can remember seeing an individual championship game effort that efficient on the defensive side of the ball was in 2023 when Shady Spring’s Braden Chapman held Fairmont Senior all-stater Zycheus Dobbs to two points.
It takes a special kind of player to do that and it’s even more impressive when it’s one of your stars serving as the human eraser.
Wyoming East’s future
Earlier in the week I wrote about how this team marked the end of East’s current dynasty one way or another. That wasn’t received very well on the east end of Wyoming County.
Do you see what I mean now?
Everyone interpreted it as an affront to this year’s team when it was more about the future.
My job involves assessing all of the parts and projecting what the future may be for each.
I have a lot of respect for the program East has built and sustained. This was the 50th girls basketball state tournament and just think, for a fifth of all state tournaments played Wyoming East has been a legitimate contender. I spent the first nine years of my career covering that program as it reinvented itself into a statewide power and standard.
I know what a championship-level team looks like. You know what it looks like because you’ve seen it. It’s also why we both know this current era has ended. It doesn’t mean a new one won’t dawn in the near future.
What James Monroe stands to do is what Wyoming East would’ve done from 2016-18 had they not averaged an ACL blowout per year (that’s a real stat). Remember when Gabby Lupardus, Kara Sandy, Emily Saunders, Jazz Blankenship and Sky Davidson were all underclassmen at some point in that stretch that started with a blowout title game victory?
That’s where James Monroe is now.
They graduate nobody.
Their leading scorer is a freshman who’s probably going to replicate what Lupardus did and eventually become a Mary Ostrowski Award winner if she remains healthy.
Sometimes it’s less about you and more about somebody else.
Summers County had the most impressive girls basketball dynasty in state history but eventually gave way immediately to Westside in a year where arguably the best player in school history (Candace Brown) had the greatest individual season in school history (37 ppg).
East loses a lot and doesn’t have the same crop of talent it’s had immediately coming in to step in and replace them either.
When there was a massive turnover after 2019 there was at least still an all-state point guard and leader in Skylar Davidson to usher in and guide a talented group of freshmen with high expectations.
I still believe they’ll be competitive. I believe in the coaches and I thought from start to finish Coley Tolliver made the biggest in-season leap of any East player I’ve covered over the last nine years.
She went from a kid that struggled to handle the ball in December to arguably their most consistent player across two games in Charleston. I believed most of the year that East winning a state tournament game was its ceiling and what more could you ask for than a team maxing out and hitting its ceiling?
I thought it was an example of excellent coaching and player development.
It doesn’t mean that they won’t be a state tournament team but I believe East’s title window is closed until 2029. Let’s enjoy the boys team in the meantime. They have a chance to be the James Monroe equivalent as early as this week.
Davidson’s Monologue
Following their loss in the state semis, Wyoming East head coach Ryan Davidson had a great quote on the success of others.
“I’m happy for the other (team),” Davidson said. “Listen we’re making memories here. These are memories we’re going to – it’s sad but why shouldn’t somebody else be allowed to have good memories also? That’s the way it works. That’s life. We can’t hog the whole thing. We tried but let’s be happy for the people that are succeeding.
“We’re supposed to be in this to see people succeed. I think we’re a success. I think we’ll always be successful. But somebody else is allowed to succeed too. Why can’t we let somebody else enjoy their time? I’m goin to. I’m cheering for our region (James Monroe) baby. Let’s go.”
Anybody who knows Ryan isn’t surprised by this. It’s who he is. He’s become a good friend of mine over the years and this is perfect example of why. He cares about his kids, he enjoys the moment, he’s set in reality and he’s genuinely a good person.
Most people that know him already know these things but I’m glad the entire state got to see a glimpse of his character. It was referenced later by other coaches in the tournament including Class AAAA state champion and Parkersburg head coach Chris Murray.
“I heard, I think it’s coach Davidson from Wyoming East earlier say, ‘Just be happy of people.'” Murray said. “In our sport we’re often jealous of other programs and coaches and we lose sight this is a really hard job. Coaching high school girls and asking them to be the best at all times is challenging work.”
Gracious in victory, gracious in defeat.
Princeton shows promise
I thought Princeton’s ceiling was a state tournament win which is a high ceiling considering the program has never hit that mark before.
There was a chance against Nitro but the Wildcats attacked Princeton’s fundamentals. The Tigers struggled with live ball turnovers that led to points and struggled to hit shots at point blank range.
From Nitro head coach Pat Jones.
“That’s what we run – a fast man-to-man pressure defense where we turn you over once you get over half court and I thought the girls did a good job with it today. A couple of their ball handlers didn’t really have a strong left hand so we really wanted to force them to their left so they’d cross back over to their right and we’d get a steal for a layup.”
I say this because I believe there’s a title window for Princeton as early as next year. They’re young, talented and athletically gifted and return every player that saw meaningful minutes for them. No other team in Class AAA can say that, though Nitro brings back nearly everyone aside from its best player in Karson Jones.
If they all remain there, Princeton should come into next season as a top 3 team in Class AAA by default. But they’ll need to improve upon their fundamentals – using the square on the backboard, using their left hand , etc. – to turn the promise of potential into a title.
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