BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
Tug Valley’s Lady Panthers powered through a grueling three-games-in-three-days stretch last week, opening with a dominant Senior Night rout of county rival Mingo Central, celebrating Bailee Hall’s 1,000th career point in a win over River View, and then battling Class AAAA Hurricane before closing the week at 15-4 with the postseason fast approaching.
Lady Panthers steamroll Lady Miners
It was a convincing win on Senior Night for the Lady Panthers of Tug Valley as they steamrolled county rival Mingo Central 75-24 on Monday evening, Feb. 9 at the TVHS gym in Naugatuck.
The four senior girls’ basketball players honored before the start of the game include Bailee Hall, Haven Deskins, Brooke Spaulding and Mindi Dearnell.
Four players reached double figures in scoring and nine scored for Coach Seth Ooten’s squad.
Deskins netted 12 points, Kylie DeBoard and Lauryn White each scored 11, and Bailee Hall added 10. Katelyn Richardson fired in nine points, Alexis Messer also had nine, Gracie Hynd chipped in seven and Katie Hall added four points.
Bailee Hall had another double-double pulling down 11 rebounds, while Deskins also had a double-double with 10 boards.
DeBoard led the team with six steals and five assists.
Karissa Bradford led Mingo Central with nine points.
Tug Valley jumped out to a commanding 22-5 lead after one quarter and held the Lady Miners to just two points in the second period to lead 36-7 at halftime.
The Lady Panthers outscored MCHS 37-17 in the final two quarters with Coach Ooten and his staff playing their reserves much of the half.
The Class A No. 2-ranked Lady Panthers improved to 14-3 on the season with the win as they head closer to the postseason.
The Class AA Mingo Central squad dropped to 0-14 with the loss.
Score by quarters:
Mingo: 5 2 10 7 – 24
Tug: 22 14 20 17 – 75
Tug Valley floods River View
The Lady Panthers, playing in back-to-back days, downed the visiting River View Lady Raiders 67-45 on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
Tug Valley jumped out to a 22-3 lead after the first 8:00 minutes of play and never let off the gas pedal.
During the game, senior Bailee Hall scored her 1,000th career point. That is more than 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 points in Hall’s high school basketball career at Tug Valley. She will be going to West Virginia State on a softball scholarship next fall.
Haven Deskins led the Lady Panthers in scoring with 22 points, followed by freshman 6th man Gracie Hynd with 13 and Kylie DeBoard with 11 points. Bailee Hall, Katie Hall and Katelyn Richardson each scored six points, while Brooke Spaulding scored three.
Katie Hall led the team with 10 rebounds, while Bailee Hall and DeBoard both pulled down seven boards. Hynd led the team with eight assists.
The win improved Tug’s record to 15-3 for the season as they head closer to the postseason.
Score by quarters:
RV: 3 10 15 13 – 45
Tug: 22 14 18 13 – 67
Hurricane 62, Tug Valley 53
The Class A No. 2 Lady Panthers lost to Class AAAA Hurricane 62-53 in their third game in as many days, Wednesday, Feb. 11, at Hurricane.
Katie Hall led Tug Valley with 16 points, followed by Bailee Hall with 13 and Kylie DeBoard with 11. Haven Deskins added five points, while Katelyn Richardson scored six and Gracie Hynd two.
TVHS saw its record fall to 15-4, while Hurricane improved to 7-11.
The regular season is almost over for the Lady Panthers with just two games remaining: Feb. 17 at Chapmanville with a tipoff of 7 p.m. and Feb. 19 at Lawrence County (KY) at 7 p.m.