CHARLESTON — After averaging 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists per game this season, University’s Ashten Boggs was a first-team all-state selection by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
Boggs and the Hawks finished second in Class AAA, losing to Parkersburg in the state championship.
After ripping through a one-loss campaign that concluded with a second-straight Class AAA championship, it is little surprise to see Parkersburg well represented in terms of postseason awards.
That success certainly shone through in terms of the Class AAA all-state team where four Big Reds were honored with senior Shay-Lee Kirby and junior Madi Mace each being named to the first team.
Kirby, who averaged 17.7 points per game, hit 51 3-pointers and shot 49 percent from the floor, was named captain of the eight-player first team.
“Shay came back with a whole different attitude and you just kind of had to be around her for four years to appreciate how far she came,” Parkersburg coach Scott Cozzens said. We started the season with [forward] Bre [Wilson] on the DL and then Madi went down and we really didn’t miss a beat. Shay was the one constant. She kept everything together. I can’t say enough about her. She became a real leader. She matured and just had a calmness about her.”
It marked the first, first-team selection for Kirby, who was the second-team captain a year ago and the third in as many years for Mace, who averaged 15.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 3.2 steals per contest despite missing six games this season.
The Big Reds weren’t the only team with two representatives on the first team. George Washington, which fell in a Region 3 co-final to Greenbrier East, also landed two players in senior guard Katy Darnell and sophomore guard Kalissa Lacy.
Darnell made the first team for the second straight year, averaging 16.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.8 steals per game while Lacy’s scoring mark of 17.9 points per game led the Mountain State Athletic Conference. Kirby was just behind with Darnell finishing third. It was the second straight season that Darnell and Lacy finished in the top three in the league scoring race.
“Honestly, it’s a credit to Katy and Kalissa and the work that they put in and how they present themselves on the court, off the court and in the community,” GW coach Jamie LaMaster said. “They’re both multi-sport athletes and they manage their schedules and the classroom and playing in the MSAC and putting up those numbers against the schedule we played really speaks volumes.”
John Marshall senior Shay Straughn (24.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.1 steals per game) and Parkersburg South junior Makenna Winans (14.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.4 blocks per game).
Greenbrier East junior Haley McClure rounded out the first team after leading the Spartans to the state tournament, averaging 16.7 points per game along the way. It was the second straight first-team selection for McClure.
Woodrow Wilson’s Laken Ball captain the second team after helping keep the Flying Eagles ranked solidly in the top 10 all season. Ball was joined by South Charleston teammates Myra Cuffee (junior) and Lavender Ward (senior), Parkersburg’s Bre Wilson, University’s Zoe Murphy, Morgantown’s Kaitlyn Ammons and Wheeling Park’s Shanley Woods.
Huntington junior post player Madison Slash captained the third team and was joined by Big Reds junior Aleea Crites, Martinsburg’s Morganne Andrews, Greenbrier East’s Emma Dotson, Buckhannon-Upshur’s Alli Robinson, Parkersburg South’s Sierra Hays, Woodrow Wilson’s Victoria Staunton and Morgantown’s Sydni Clawges.
