All-State: Class A First-Team Analysis

<em><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Photo: Gilmer County’s [player_tooltip player_id="153400" first="Trinity" last="Bancroft"] (23) guards during her team’s quarterfinal win over Wheeling Central Catholic at the state tournament in Charleston. </span></em> Associated Press All-State teams were released in the state of West Virginia this week, starting with Class A on Wednesday. All-State lists in the Mountain State consist of first, second and third teams, all with eight players each. Here is a deeper look at the Class A, first team. <span style="color: #00ccff;"><strong>Two For The Show</strong></span> Six of the state’s top eight Class A players were comprised of teammates. St. Joseph landed two of them, led by the state’s top player in the 2020 class, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153270" first="Bailee" last="Adkins"]</strong>. Adkins averaged 10 points, 7.3 assists, 4 rebounds and 4.3 steals while leading the Irish to a 22-1 record and a No. 24 national ranking according to maxpreps.com. She was joined by junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153320" first="Grace" last="Hutson"]</strong>, the top-ranked player in the 2021 class and the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year. Hutson led the Irish, scoring 19.5 points per game from her forward position. Also landing two players each were Parkersburg Catholic in sisters <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153287" first="Madeline" last="Huffman"]</strong> (2020) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153374" first="Leslie" last="Huffman"]</strong> (2022) as well as Summers County with 2021 guards <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153330" first="Taylor" last="Isaac"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153339" first="Gavin" last="Pivont"]</strong>. <span style="color: #00ccff;"><strong>A Late, Lasting Impression</strong></span> Though the state tournament was indefinitely postponed due to the coronavirus and is still officially on hold, all but three quarterfinal games across all three classes were played. Few players if any made an impression like Gilmer County’s <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153400" first="Trinity" last="Bancroft"]</strong> (2022), who opened the second day’s morning session with a 35-point, five-steal effort in a Titans win over Wheeling Central. It capped a strong sophomore campaign in which the combo-guard scored 16.8 points per game to go with 4.9 rebounds to lead Gilmer. And while All-State seasons are not made or broken in one game, Bancroft certainly saved her best for last, wowing voters on the state’s biggest stage. <span style="color: #00ccff;"><strong>Overcoming Adversity </strong></span> Rounding out the Class A first team was <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153274" first="Kaylee" last="Reinbeau"]</strong> (2020) of Wheeling Central, the fifth-ranked player among West Virginia seniors. It was a trying year to say the least for the Maroon Knights. Teammate <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153272" first="Eden" last="Gainer"]</strong> (2020), ranked third in the class, missed most of the season with injury and Reinbeau also found herself sidelined for four games with injuries of her own. The third member of Central’s strong senior class -- <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153285" first="Hannah" last="White"]</strong> (2020) -- played through her own ailments, eventually landing a spot on the All-State second team. When Reinbeau was healthy, she flashed plenty of what landed her a scholarship to Division-I Bucknell, averaging a double-double with 19.5 points and 12.7 rebounds per game.