Junior Spotlight: Write off Florence if need be, but big mistake

Parkersburg High required a spark. Desperately, in fact. Having played Huntington tough through the first two quarters, [player_tooltip player_id="153371" first="Dionna" last="Gray"], [player_tooltip player_id="153375" first="Imani" last="Hickman"] and the rest of the reigning Class AAAA state champions finally asserting themselves signaled problems. They more resembled the team beating the Big Reds by 40 earlier in the year, rather than a group stretching an 11-point lead out of the locker room. Even worse? The Big Reds lacked energy, enthusiasm, and no one could buy a bucket. In other words, this situation created a nightmare scenario. Either something changed or PHS kissed a seven-game winning streak goodbye. Enter [player_tooltip player_id="153414" first="Brilynn" last="Florence"]. The Big Reds’ leading scorer who had been relatively quiet, woke up. Her blonde ponytail flickering back and forth, her swagger building up, she single-handedly jostled her group out of a stupor. <img class="size-medium wp-image-384613 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/02/Brilynn-300x281.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="281" />"I feel great when I hit my next 3 because I know it is my job and it is what I am supposed to do, just making those 3s usually gets our intensity up," she said. Did it ever. As shots began falling, the team's energy picked up, the noise in the PHS Fieldhouse rose, and everything started feeling like perhaps a comeback attempt brewed on Sam Mandich Floor. After Florence canned her first 3 wide open on the right side of the arc, PHS not only pulled within eight points, but the shot triggered Pressburg. Havoc ensued as the 1-2-1 began piling on more and more pressure for Huntington to get the ball up the floor. Though the Highlanders handled it easily at times, the message came through loud and clear: This ball game just got a lot more interesting. Huntington may have caused minor annoyances to the Big Reds with a few buckets, but those shots never shook them, again. If anything, they served notice that the Highlanders took the threat to their perfect record and nearly invincible aura to heart. Fittingly, they punched the lead right back up to eleven with 2:37 to go. Even more, fittingly, Florence punched right back on a trey with 1:53 left in the third. She came ready to do it again and again if need be. "Any moment I am open I am going to shoot it. It doesn’t matter if I have some daylight or not," Florence said. Her shot wasn’t the only place daylight formed. Right after Riley Hilling completed an and-one thus slicing the lead to three, screams rang out louder from the PHS student section, the music seemed more upbeat, and everything came into clearer focus for Chris Murray’s team. Sending the Highlanders to the first loss of the year wasn’t only possible, it felt inevitable. This thing wasn’t supposed to be happening to Lonnie Lucas and the Highlanders, no West Virginia team finished within 18 points of them in the opening games. Why now? Why the Big Reds? Why against a team many people had written off as finished and done after one of the most storied senior classes left the court to their "bench players." None of those questions mattered, of course, but it was curious. If PHS players and coaching staff wondered the same thing, their faces never showed concern. Fueled by the jolt from the statewide leader in 3-point makes, PHS went into the fourth quarter reinvigorated and ready for the final haul. "We worked our butts off in practice and it led us to this point to have the opportunity to beat the No. 1 team," Florence said. That’s right. She and her teammates didn’t intend on wasting it now, either. Just eight more minutes stood between them and a victory that could only be described as season-defining. Could they finish it off? Would they finish it off? Or were the seeds of a horrifying disappointment being sowed before the dandelions of defeat snuffed out the hope of an upset? Turns out, the battle continued down the stretch with big shots from both sides. Each shot from the Big Reds produced a little more frustration on the faces of the Highlanders. Each point closer to defeat produced another and then another Huntington mistake. Predictably, the Big Reds capitalized on nearly every one of them. Florence and [player_tooltip player_id="153387" first="Kisten" last="Roberts"] finally brought the Big Reds dead even twice within a span of one minute. Even when she didn’t hit the big shots, Florence’s impact felt ever-present. As [player_tooltip player_id="378962" first="Trinity" last="Balog"] trotted toward the free-throw line eyeing a chance at putting the Big Reds ahead by four, she did so with No. 22’s words of encouragement in her ears. Those worked and perhaps were for the whole team because even as Huntington timed the game up at 57 apiece as time wound down, that effort came too little, too late. "We put a good five out at all times and it is hard to just say "Take her away. Because if you take that away we can drive now. We have attackers and kickers we have some size," Murray said of the situation. Basically, PHS believed. They felt the upset coming and refused to be denied. Could you ask for any better leadership at this point in the evening? Only one other thing stood to make the night better ... Perhaps most beautiful of all, Florence put the cherry on top of the upset sundae. She canned the two free throws that gave the Big Reds a permanent lead. Amazingly, all of that came from Florence's third-quarter outburst and refusal to let her hard work be wasted. The overall message? Let Florence shoot at your own risk, Class AAAA. Those shots are more dangerous than you may think. "She's just confident. That girl works her butt off in the gym somewhere all the time," Murray said. "So, for us, we just believe in her. Brilynn, man, we just keep letting her go, dude!" &nbsp;