BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. – It was obvious Monday night’s game against Trinity meant a lot to Clay-Battelle’s Joleigh Sollars.
The lone senior for the Cee-Bees made six 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 22 points and helped lead her team to a 54-37 home win over the Warriors.
“My teammates were just getting it to me, and I don’t really know what I was feeling – the energy and my teammates just helped me keep getting all of those threes,” Sollars said.
It wasn’t a stellar start for either side with turnovers and sloppy play, but it was a balanced scoring effort for C-B at the start. In the first quarter, four players made baskets, including Sollars, Camren Watson, Liv Ammons and Autumn Stewart.
However, in the second quarter, it was clear Sollars was red hot from beyond the arc. She finished the half with three made threes, and her 13 first half points helped boost the Cee-Bees to a 10-point lead heading into the locker room.
It was more of the same in the second half and Sollars finished with three more treys.
“You can hear her talk sometimes about how this is her senior year and how she wants to win this game,” C-B coach David Joyce said. “It was a motivation for her and she did an outstanding job shooting. When she’s hot, our team’s OK. That gives us that extra weapon.”
The Cee-Bees sit at 10-4, and after an emotional offseason, find themselves in a position not many thought they’d be in. Sollars was supposed to finish out her senior year with Rylee Burnette, but Burnette passed away in October. As the team keeps winning, Sollars is reminded Burnette is still with the Cee-Bees after all.
“I played with Rylee ever since I was in second grade,” Sollars said. “I’ve never stepped on the court without her before this season, and the first few weeks, I just cried every time I got on the court. I know that’s not what she’d want us to do and we’re playing the game like she’s still with us.”
While Sollars was the star offensively, Joyce was thrilled with the collective defense his team showed. Jaclyn Smith and Olivia Austin were responsible for 36 of Trinity’s 37 points – no other Warrior made a basket. In the first meeting on Dec. 20 – a 62-50 C-B win – Trinity’s Maggie Mercure scored in double figures. On Monday, she was held scoreless.
“We shined defensively tonight,” Joyce said. “We gave up a lot of 3-pointers, but our kids have done much better at defending.”
Ammons also scored in double figures for C-B with 17 points.
For the Warriors (7-9), coach Mike Baldy wanted three things to happen going in – “Effort, which was pretty good; execution, which was terrible; and passing, which was terrible,” he said. “Mid-game, there isn’t much we can do about better passing. We have to do that in practice. We do it, but obviously it wasn’t good enough for tonight.”
Austin finished with 20 points to lead Trinity, while Smith had 16.
C-B will host Valley-Wetzel at 7 p.m. Thursday, while Trinity will travel to Cross Lanes Christian at 1 p.m. Saturday.
