State Tournament Day 2: Morning session standouts

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Abby Alt, Petersburg, G, 5-6, Jr. </strong>- Good starts are an essential part of any basketball game, well any sports contest really. Right? Kinda. Anyway, this certainly was the case for Abby Alt and Petersburg. In a knock-down, drag'em out game against St. Marys, Alt and company took the lead and never looked back. Alt made a statement. By scoring the first three points, she let the Vikings know they could topple the third-seeded Blue Devils and then they were good to go. St. Marys never led and Alt made sure her impacted kept being felt through the whole game. When the lead was trimmed to one possession, she pushed it back up. Anytime the score was tied, she untied it. Overall, she scored 18 well-timed points to go along with her 4 rebounds and steals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Emily Gola, Doddridge County, G, 4-11, Sr.</strong> - Doddridge County Bulldog Emily Gola makes one heck of a 4-foot-11 basketball player. She's the one who leads her team in rebounds. She's the one who tells her team they better step up and then she watches as everyone steps up. And, she's the one who always shows up big, especially when the moment shines brightest. Take, for example, the Bulldogs' 59-27 win over Gilmer County in the Class A state quarterfinal. She was radiant. She was spectacular. She was typical big-game Gola. Basically, everything Lisa Cheeseman possibly could have wanted, those are things Gola delivered to her fearless leader – over, and over, and over, again. If things were any better, there really wouldn't have been much room for improvement. Basically, Gola dutifully made sure her Bulldogs didn't fall victim to the dreaded cliché of playing three games in a year – you know the one, right? It goes, “It is awfully hard to beat a team three times in one season.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='496329' first='Allie' last='Ellyson'], Gilmer County, PG, 5-2, So.</strong> - [player_tooltip player_id='496329' first='Allie' last='Ellyson'] always shows up to play. A-L-W-A-Y-S. Gilmer could be doubted, and she shows up. Her tummy might hurt, yet she shows up. Her team may be a little overwhelmed, yet she still shows up. That latter example may be the best, yet. She really, really came out big and left nothing on the floor. When she was needed, she showed up. When the opportunity was there to lead, she led. Anything and everything was her responsibility or she made it her responsibility. She led the Titans with 15 points, 4 assists and four steals in a superb showing in Charleston. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='383617' first='Maddie' last='Clark'], Wyoming East, G, 5-8, Jr.</strong> - Talk about a stuffed stat sheet!!! [player_tooltip player_id='383617' first='Maddie' last='Clark'] filled her columns up and then some in Wyoming East's win over Ravenswood in the Warriors' 67-37 win over Ravenswood. She showed off wonderful shooting touch with a 70% day from the field, good for 15 points. She hauled down 5 rebounds, 8 steals, and helped generate at least another 24 points with her 12 assists. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->