First ever PCHS win vs Charleston Catholic follows upset at Pendleton

Dunmore, W.Va. –

Maybe the Lady Warriors basketball team was thinking too much on Friday at Pendleton County about Saturday’s first ever regular season match up in girls basketball with Charleston Catholic. Or maybe Pendleton County just played their best game of the season and exceeded every one’s expectations in front of a full-house of cheering students and fans. Coach Kane had scouted the Lady Wildcats loss to Tucker County at Franklin two days before the game, and he was well aware that they were better than the 26-60 score would indicate.

Poor shooting by the Lady Warriors (now 8-4) was definitely a factor in #6 (Coaches and AP Polls) Pocahontas County’s 45-48 upset by Pendleton County (now 4-5). Pendleton took the first quarter by four points, and Pocahontas regrouped and took the second by six to lead by two at the half. The Lady Wildcats, behind the three straight treys of junior 5’9″ post Hillary Ord in the third, took the third by five points to lead by three going into the final period.

Pendleton was able to make the fourth an 8-8 standoff and get the big upset. Pocahontas had the two game high scorers in sophomores Bobbie McNabb and Tristan Day with 19 and 14 points respectively. McNabb also grabbed seven rebounds, and Day made four steals. Ord also had 14 points that included four treys plus 11 rebounds for a double-double performance. Junior Kaylee Edwards of Pendleton had 10 points. Pendleton’s other six scorers contributed 24 points while Pocahontas only had four others supply 12.

Pocahontas high scorer, senior Heather Snead, who was averaging 15.5 points per game, finished with 2 points and 4 steals. Snead got two files early in the game and sat the whole second quarter on the bench. She would be called for her fifth foul with 2:21 to go in the game. Senior Olivia Workman grabbed four steals and dished out three assists. Pendleton led in rebounds 28-22, but Pocahontas had fewer turnovers 12-19. Pendleton led in threes 7-2, and Pocahontas averages 3.5 treys per game.

Just as Pendleton may have had to pay due to Tucker being beat by PCHS in a one-point thriller right before their match up, PCHS would take their Pendleton upset out on the visiting Irish of Charleston Catholic on Saturday. Charleston Catholic lost at Dunmore 43-37 for the first time in six match-ups. This was the first regular season game after four straight regional games at the Armory in Summersville starting in 04-05 and at states in 09-10. The four regional wins by Catholic with West Virginia player of the year Makensie Maier ranged from four points in 07-08 to 28 in 06-07, and the state win was only by one point, 40-39.

McNabb scored the first basket of the 2 PM game after about two minutes of nervous play and bad passes by both teams in front of a big crowd of fans. The Lady Warriors would blast out to a 10-1 lead, but Catholic tied the game at 10-10 with a 9-point run of their own. PCHS then went on a 10-point run to take a 20-10 lead in the second quarter. Pocahontas would never trail in the game, and by half-time Catholic again cut the lead to 4 points, 24-20. PCHS’s biggest lead in the contest was by 13 points, 33-20 in the third quarter, but the Irish would again chisel the lead to 11 points by the end of the third, 41-30.

Neither team scored in the fourth period defensive battle for the first five minutes until Catholic finally hit a basket to cut the PCHS lead to 41-32. PCHS hit two of five foul shots, and that was their only scoring in the final frame. Catholic hit a three followed by two field goals to close the gap to 43-37. PCHS improves to 9-4 and Catholic drops to 4-7. Catholic plays a very tough schedule and only lost to #4 Class AA Summers County by 11 points in their first of two match ups. The Irish have a pair of games with undefeated Class AAA #1 Greenbrier East and five of the top-seven Class A squads. PCHS has six ranked teams on their schedule.

Senior Samantha Fletcher and junior Anna Whelan led all scorers in the game with 11 points each, and Fletcher had 10 rebounds for a double-double. Whelan also had five assists. Workman led the victors at the point-guard with 10 rebounds, six points and three assists. McNabb and Day were again team high scorers with 10 points each. Snead scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds. Freshman Melissa Murphy grabbed seven rebounds and put up four points. PCHS out-rebounded CCHS 35-34. Each team hit four treys. PCHS hit nine of 21 rebounds (43%), and CCHS made five of 16 (31%). Charleston was called for two more fouls, 18 versus 16 for PCHS.

PCHS dropped from #7 to #8 in the MaxPreps January 13 rankings with the recent upset and win. PCHS improves to 9-4, and CCHS drops to 4-7. The Lady Warriors travel to possible sectional opponent Moorefield (6-5) on Friday to renew that short PVC rivalry, and then Moorefield will travel to PCHS next Wednesday, January 23. Both JV games will begin at 6 PM.

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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