BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
NAUGATUCK, W.Va. — The Tug Valley Lady Panthers, ranked No. 3 in Class A heading into the postseason, defeated visiting Calhoun County Red Devils 66-24 Thursday night at the TVHS gym.
The convincing victory came in the Class A Region IV girls’ basketball semifinals.
Tug Valley had a solid defensive effort, forcing several turnovers and recording more than 20 steals as a team.
Freshman Gracie Hynd scored 23 points for a career high. Bailee Hall had another double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Haven Deskins scored seven, Katelyn Richardson and Brooke Spaulding had six each, Kylie DeBoard added five points, Alexis Messer chipped in four and Katie Hall added three points.
Deskins and DeBoard both dished out three assists for Coach Seth Ooten’s squad.
“I thought we had good effort the entire night with every girl,” Coach Ooten said. “We certainly didn’t have the best shooting night, but the shots we were taking were good shots. There will be nights where the shots won’t fall, but you can always play tough on the defensive end, rebound and hustle, and I thought we did those things extremely well. I’m proud of the girls for not giving up and playing tough throughout the game.”
Ooten then pointed to several individual performances that helped anchor the team’s effort on both ends of the floor.
“I thought Gracie did a lot of things well offensively. She scored 23 points, but she also got others involved off the dribble,” Ooten added. “Kylie also had some highlight assists, but was also a terror defensively. Bailee had another double-double (12 points and 13 rebounds). It’s just kind of expected for her to have those types of numbers each night because she does it so often.”
Josie Richards, Faith McClain and Laney Arnold each scored six points for the Red Devils.
Tug Valley improves to 18-4 and is scheduled to host Wirt County (13-10) on March 4 in the regional co-final for the right to play in the West Virginia state tournament March 10-14 at the Charleston Coliseum. Wirt County was a 51-11 winner over Man in regional play.
Score by quarters:
Calhoun: 4 5 3 12 – 24
Tug: 17 22 12 15 – 66