State Tournament — Standouts From Morning Session

<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Image: Woodrow Wilson’s [player_tooltip player_id="153281" first="Liz" last="Cadle"] dribbles the ball near half court in the Flying Eagles’ 44-37 win over Morgantown in a Class AAA quarterfinal.</em> </span> The initial wave of three games at the Charleston Coliseum wrapped up around 3:30 on Wednesday. Already, the tournament had its first upset as No. 6 PikeView knocked off No. 3 Fairmont Senior 59-55 in a Class AA quarterfinal. Along with those three games came some big-time performances as well. Here is a look at a few of those outputs. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153281" first="Liz" last="Cadle"] -- Woodrow Wilson -- G -- 2020</strong> With both teams riding their defenses, points were at a premium in the tournament’s first matchup of Class AAA teams. Cadle scored 20 points, accounting for nearly half of the Flying Eagles’ total in a 44-37 win over No. 7 Morgantown. Cadle scored her points efficiently, hitting 6 of 11 shots from the floor and 3 of her 5 3-point attempts while cashing in on 5 of 6 free throws. The second-seeded Eagles needed every bit of it to advance to Friday’s semifinals. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153294" first="Laken" last="McKinney"] -- PikeView -- F/C -- 2020</strong> The WVU Tech signee made her presence felt early and often in the Panthers’ quarterfinal win. McKinney finished with 25 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks, all while shooting 10 for 14 from the floor. In a game in which PikeView turned the ball over 24 times, the play of McKinney and fellow big <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153308" first="Shiloh" last="Bailey"]</strong> (2020), who had 15 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, was just enough to turn away a late rally from the Polar Bears. At 6-foot-2, McKinney proved to be too much to handle when the Panthers could get the ball in her hands. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153301" first="ZZ" last="Russell"] -- Winfield -- PG -- 2020</strong> The second-seeded Generals turned a five-point halftime lead into a 43-point laugher over No. 7 Westside, thanks in large part to Russell. The Winfield point guard broke the single-game, Class AA scoring record, pouring in 41 points and registering four assists and five steals to push the Generals into Friday’s semifinals. Russell has been hot lately, averaging 26 points per game coming into the state tournament and her speed at the front of the Generals’ press and ability to finish at the rim was far too much for Westside to handle on Wednesday. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153370" first="Marley" last="Washenitz"] -- Fairmont Senior -- G -- 2022</strong> A candidate for the state player of the year award, Washenitz’s Polar Bears may have come up a bit short but Washenitz certainly put her skills on display. The sophomore finished with a triple-double, going for 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals in keeping her team in the game. Washenitz was 0 for 5 from 3-point distance in a game in which Senior finished 0-12 as a team, but was 10 for 20 otherwise and her 10 steals spearheaded a defensive effort that forced 24 turnovers from PikeView. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153321" first="Kaitlyn" last="Ammons"] -- Morgantown -- C -- 2021</strong> One of the most highly recruited prospects in West Virginia, Ammons acquitted herself quite nicely at the Charleston Coliseum despite her Mohigans coming up seven points short in a quarterfinal matchup. Ammons finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and a pair of blocks and the 6-foot-3 post even hit a 3-pointer along the way. Morgantown’s entire starting five will return next season and Ammons will obviously be a huge part of that as she continues to try and increase her recruiting stock.