State Tournament — Takeaways From The Evening Session

The second pod of three games came and went at the Charleston Coliseum on Wednesday evening. They nearly included the biggest upset in girls state tournament history as No. 8-seed Bridgeport took top-seeded North Marion to overtime in a Class AA quarterfinal before the Huskies ultimately prevailed 58-49. Also included was a strong second-half performance from two-time, defending Class AAA state champion Parkersburg and a masterful defensive effort by Class AA No. 4 Lincoln on <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153322" first="Baylee" last="Goins"] (2021)</strong> of Nitro. Here are four things that stuck out in the evening session. <span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Lincoln’s defensive game plan</strong></span> The Cougars used a combination of a 1-3-1 zone and a man-to-man out front to stymie Nitro’s [player_tooltip player_id="153322" first="Baylee" last="Goins"] as the Cougars picked up a 63-55 win in a Class AA quarterfinal. Key to it all was Lincoln junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153334" first="Victoria" last="Sturm"] (2021)</strong>, who was at the top of that zone and shadowed Goins everywhere she went. The Cougars also got nice help inside to stuff the lane and while Lincoln held Goins to 10 of 34 shooting, Sturm also got hers offensively, pouring in a team-best 26 points. All told, Lincoln outscored Nitro 40-10 in the paint and held the Wildcats to two fast-break points in the win. <span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Bridgeport’s improvement</strong></span> The Indians were throttled by 47 points by North Marion in the regular season but had a layup rattle out from freshman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153415" first="Gabby" last="Reep"] (2023)</strong> as time expired, or Bridgeport would have pulled the biggest upset in state-tournament history. Reep scored 11 points in her state tournament debut as the Indians turned in a gutty effort that also included 12 points from reserve AnnaMarie Pinti (2021) and 10 from Paige Humble (2021). All three will return next season and after a slow start to the year, Bridgeport could be a team to look out for in the near future. <span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Parkersburg’s defense</strong></span> While it wasn’t always pretty offensively for the Big Reds, especially in the first half, that defense that has driven Parkersburg to the top of the heap in West Virginia girls basketball was on full display yet again. The Big Reds tallied 25 steals in forcing 34 turnovers from No. 8 Spring Mills and as usual, it was a team effort. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153283" first="Aleea" last="Crites"] (2020)</strong> had six, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153276" first="Bre" last="Wilson"] (2020)</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153412" first="Sierra" last="Mason"] (2023)</strong> each had five and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153307" first="Maddi" last="Leggett"] (2020)</strong> added four as the swarming Big Reds suffocated the Cardinals. Crites would also added a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. <strong><span style="color: #3366ff;"><span style="color: #0b0125;">Buonamici’s leadership</span></span></strong> While a lot of things were going wrong for North Marion, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153284" first="Taylor" last="Buonamici"] (2020)</strong> provided the steady hand befitting a senior and player with state-championship pedigree. Buonamici provided 23 points and hit 8 of 10 free throws as the Huskies were forced to unexpectedly battle for their lives. Buonamici is on the short list for state player of the year consideration, and she’ll get another shot to impress voters Friday in a semifinal against Lincoln.