Lady Warriors seize first place in PVC

Hambleton, WV – The Pocahontas Lady Warriors basketball team knocked Tucker County out of first place in the Potomac Valley Conference with a 53-49 victory over the Lady Wildcats on January 5 in Hambleton.

Bruce McKean sent in the following game report.

Lady Warriors take first win at Tucker since 2006

Tristin Day ties record and Bland nears career scoring record

It is always hard to tame the Tucker County Lady Mountain Lions, currently ranked #8 in the latest AP Poll, on their mountain, even if you are the high-scoring #5 ranked Lady Warriors. Pocahontas had not beaten Tucker at Hambleton since a 7-point 58-51 win in 2006.

A full house of fans from both schools braved an icy parking lot at the highest school site in WV to see a game with Potomac Valley Conference and state ranking implications between two schools who have become fixtures at the state tournament. The Lady Warriors wanted to get their third straight win over Tucker after getting a 9-point win at home and a 5-point win at Elkins in the PVC Championship game last season.

With college coaches in attendance at the game, there was additional pressure on some players being scouted. Tucker took the first quarter 9-8 with the score being tied three times. PCHS took the second quarter 9-8, so the first half defensive battle ended 17-17.

The Lady Warriors continued their full-court press in the second half, and the offensive output increased for both squads. The score was tied at 19-19 in the third, and Tucker’s biggest lead of the game was six points at 19-25. Junior Heather Snead led the PCHS comeback from that lead scoring 10 of her 12 points in the third. PCHS took the quarter 18-14 for the 35-31 lead going into the final canto.

Junior Olivia Workman scored 7 of her 10 game points in the fourth, and the Warriors took their biggest lead of seven points at 46-39. Tucker fought their way back and tied the game at 48-48. Tucker had to foul down the stretch, and PCHS shot 15 foul shots and made 10. Senior Erin White hit two foul shots to give PCHS the 50-48 lead. Down the stretch, senior first team all-stater Chloe Bland and Workman hit critical foul shots to assure the 4-point 53-49 PCHS victory.

Bland led all scorers with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. TCHS senior center Caitlin Maxwell also scored 14 points and had 15 rebounds. Senior Miranda McNabb kept the taller, bigger Maxwell under control all night and added 7 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. White led the team in assists with 5 and had 4 rebounds.

Bland ended the game one point short of the all-time PCHS girls career scoring record of 1154 held by Jennifer Young, who graduated in 1994 and was an All-American at Bridgewater College in Virginia.

PVC rival Tygarts Valley comes to Lady Warrior Fieldhouse on Tuesday for a matchup with Tygarts Valley (JV game starts at 6 PM.). There is a special interest in this rivalry this year, since former PCHS assistant boys basketball coach Mike DiPasquale is the new head coach of the Lady Bulldogs this season.

Chloe Bland will also be making history Tuesday if she make one point to tie and two points to break the all-time PCHS career scoring record at PCHS. Bland already shares the threes in a quarter record (4 threes); holds the career rebounds record that continues to accumulate (now 704 rebounds); and the game scoring record of 38 points. So come early to catch Bland’s first basket of the game!

Thanks to Bruce Mckean for the game report.

Tuesday night’s game will be broadcast on WNMP-FM and WVMR-FM, starting at 7:15 p.m., time approximate following a JV game.

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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