By Greg Carey
CHARLESTON — University had a response for everything that came its way from Class AAA No. 2 Greenbrier East, and the third-seeded Hawks held off the Spartans for a 56-50 victory in Friday’s semifinal at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
The win allows the Hawks to play for their first Class AAA state championship in program history against No. 1 Parkersburg on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
“I always value a win on how strong the opponent was and Greenbrier East was a strong opponent tonight,” UHS coach David Price. “Hats off to them, but I’m proud of these young ladies because they’ve worked hard to be here.”
University (22-5) put together a strong first half to lead by eight at the break and scored 10 of the last 12 points in the first quarter to hold a 10-5 lead entering the second.
UHS carried that momentum into the second quarter to build its biggest lead of the contest. A Zoe Murphy 3-pointer was followed by Lauren Dean’s layup, before Murphy made another triple to stretch the Hawks’ advantage to 18-5 5:08 before halftime.
“We kept telling ourselves we’re a game away from the state championship and we’re not going to let anything stop us from getting there,” Murphy said.
But the Spartans (23-4) answered with an 8-0 run courtesy of four field goals from Haley McClure to cut the deficit to five points.
The Hawks made 5-of-7 free throws over the remainder of the first half and limited Greenbrier East to one more field goal to take a 23-15 lead into halftime.
While the Spartans attempted 14 more shots than UHS in the opening half, both teams made seven field goals, and four of University’s were 3s.
“They gave us a lot of opportunities and we shot the ball really bad,” Greenbrier East coach Jim Justice said.
Jenkins scored her team’s first five points of the third quarter and Murphy made a jumper moments later to up the lead to 30-20 at the 5:40 mark of the third.
But consecutive 3s from Emma Dotson, followed by McClure’s trey, turned a 10-point Hawks’ lead into a 30-29 game within 1:39.
University immediately answered with a 6-0 run courtesy of four points from Mallory Napolillo, and the Hawks entered the fourth quarter with a 40-33 advantage.
“You know they’re going to make runs and we’re going to make runs,” Price said, “and at that time we’re just trying to match their intensity and make our run go a little bit longer.”
Five points from Abbie Bartenslager to start the fourth pulled the Spartans to within two, but the Hawks scored the next five to regain their seven-point lead after Abbie Coen’s layup.
UHS led by at least five the rest of the way and made nine free throws over the final 3:01 to preserve the win.
“They shoot 32 free throws and we shoot 13, and we shoot 17-for-59. It’s tough to overcome that,” Justice said. “With those numbers, we should have lost by 100. For my players to hang in there and do what they did, I give them a lot of credit.”
Greenbrier East attempted 59 shots compared to the Hawks’ 38, but the Spartans made only one more field goal (17-16).
University scored 19 points from the free-throw line to help overcome its 23 turnovers.
Murphy and Napolillo both led the Hawks with 12 points apiece, while Coen scored 10.
Dean added eight points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with six steals in a reserve role.
“She’s long and athletic and very active in passing lanes,” Price said. “She got her hands on a lot of stuff and that was huge tonight.”
Ashten Boggs was held without a field goal in the win, but scored six points to go with a game-high 15 rebounds.
McClure led the Spartans with 24 points and 14 rebounds, but was the team’s only double figure scorer.
