BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tug Valley’s run in the West Virginia Class A state tournament ended one win shy of a return trip to the championship game. The No. 2-seeded Lady Panthers followed a dominant quarterfinal rout of Greater Beckley Christian with a gut-wrenching semifinal loss to No. 3 St. Marys at the Charleston Coliseum.

Semifinals: SM 52, TV 50

Tug Valley, the No. 2 seed, lost a heartbreaker to the No. 3 seed St. Marys 52-50 Thursday afternoon.

It was a hard-fought game, typical of a final four contest at the highest level.

The Lady Panthers led 16-15 after one quarter, but St. Marys outscored TVHS 14-6 in the second quarter to take a 29-22 lead at halftime.

The Lady Blue Devils led 41-35 after three quarters of play.

Tug Valley fought back to tie the game at 42-42 on a shot by Haven Deskins early in the fourth quarter. Kylie DeBoard gave her team the lead 44-42 on the next offensive possession and St. Marys coach Fred King called a quick timeout with the momentum shifting toward the Lady Panthers.

Deskins led the Lady Panthers offense in the second half scoring 13 points.

The game was back and forth in the final minutes with Brynnley Bulluck swishing a 3-pointer to tie it at 50-50 with 37 seconds left.

After a Tug Valley miss, St. Marys got the rebound and Lainey Watkins made a fast-break layup shot with just seconds remaining, giving her team a 2-point lead, 52-50.

Tug Valley Coach Seth Ooten set up a play after a timeout, but the shot fell short. St. Marys grabbed the rebound and held on for the upset victory.

The Lady Panthers outscored St. Marys 15-11 in the final quarter, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Deskins led the Lady Panthers with 15 points, while Katie Hall netted 11, Kylie DeBoard also scored 11, Bailee Hall had six and Gracie Hynd four. Bailee Hall had 13 rebounds, while Deskins dished out six assists and had four steals and six boards. Katie Hall added five rebounds for TV.

Bulluck had a game-high 29 points for St. Marys and hauled down 11 rebounds. Anna Bennett scored eight, Laney Watkins six and Landrey Riggs four. Riggs had four assists for the winners.

Tug Valley had 16 turnovers, while St. Marys committed 19 in the fast-paced contest. The Blue Devils shot 41% from the floor, compared to 33% for the Lady Panthers.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX’s enactment and the implementation of girls’ basketball at the scholastic level in the Mountain State.

“We want to build a program to be here every year,” Coach Ooten said. “I am very proud of these girls. They have a great work ethic. They fought to the end.”

The game was the final in the career of four seniors for Tug Valley – Bailee Hall, Haven Deskins, Brooke Spaulding and Mindi Dearnell.

The Lady Panthers, the second seed, finished 20-5.

The No. 3 St. Marys (22-4) advanced to play in Saturday’s 10 a.m. state championship game.

Score by quarters:
St. Marys: 15 14 12 11 – 52
Tug: 16 6 13 15 – 50

Quarterfinals: TV 60, GBC 13

The Lady Panthers dominated the Lady Crusaders of Greater Beckley Christian 60-13 in the quarterfinals of the Class A state tournament at the Charleston Coliseum, March 10.

Tug Valley led 24-3 at halftime as they held GBC to only one 3-pointer in the second quarter. The Lady Panthers smothering defense had several deflections and steals that helped take the early lead.

Tug Valley (20-4) also dominated the boards, outrebounding the Beckley school 71-38, including 35 on the offensive end. The Lady Panthers forced 24 turnovers, many of which led to baskets on the offensive end.

Tug Valley, the No. 2 seed, was a little cold on the offensive end in the first half, only making 8-34 shots. But their defensive effort made a huge difference against the No. 7-seeded Lady Crusaders.

Coach Seth Ooten’s squad led 51-13 after three quarters of play. He started playing some of his reserves in the third quarter.

As they did in the first quarter, the Lady Panthers held GBC scoreless in the final quarter.

Senior Haven Deskins led a balanced scoring attack for the Lady Panthers with 13 points, while Bailee Hall, Katie Hall and Kylie DeBoard each scored 10 points and Gracie Hynd added eight.

Bailee Hall pulled down 24 rebounds, while Katie Hall had 15. DeBoard dished out 6 assists to lead her team in that statistic.

Tug shot 30% from the floor for 24-79 from the field, including 3-16 from behind the arc. They were 9-16 at the foul line for 56%.

“You get on the floor and this stage with the lights, it’s very hard to shoot. A lot of times, the team that settles in first wins,” Ooten said. “The stuff that we can control – like defense, rebounding and the small things – we pride ourselves on that and it keeps us in the game when we are struggling to score.”

Score by quarters:
GBC: 0 3 10 0 – 13
Tug: 10 14 27 9 – 60