Huntington, W. Va. — In the Class A Region 4 Co-Final, #4 Huntington St. Joe ( 18-5 ) defeated Tolsia 54-34 on Tuesday at Spring Valley high school.
Head Coach Ric Morrone talks to his team during a timeout.
Tolsia ( 11-13 ) was led by Kilee Preece who hit 5 three pointers and finished with 15 points, Jayce Crum tallied 12 points, Emily Artrip added 5 points and Megan Clayton chipped in with 2 points.
The Rebels hit 7 three pointers and went 3 for 9 from the free throw line.
St. Joe was led by Mariah Johnson with 16 points, Ava Gallion 11 points, Lacey Smith 8 points, Candra Frazier 7 points, Niko Caufman and Sophie Ransbottom 5 points each.
The Irish hit 6 three pointers and went 7 for 12 from the free throw line.
#10 Kilee Preece nails one of her 5 three pointers against St. Joe
THS 4 3 9 18 = 34
HSJ 11 11 20 12 = 54
The Rebels season comes to a close one game shy of a return trip to the state tournament. They only lose one Senior in Sara Sturgell and have a ton coming back and a good group coming from Crum Middle.
Huntington St. Joe will be the #4 seed in the WVSSAC State Tournament next week in Charleston and will play #5 James Monroe at 9:00 on Wednesday night.
Tolsia Head Coach Ric Morrone
COACH’S COMMENTS
“… Tough start for us bowing down 11-0 and just couldn’t get much going early and they really hurt us on the glass. Had second and third chances and that’s hard to overcome. I thought the second half we adjusted to the speed of the game and I couldn’t be more proud of them for laying it all on the line against a very good team.”
“… I told our girls no offense to them and I hope they make a good run but I wouldn’t trade locker rooms even if you doubled my pay and would still choose to be in this locker room. We had a special group that improved so much from beginning until tonight. Not many people expected much from this group after losing so much off of last years state tournament team. We started the year rough and got to 11 wins and a region final. These kids are special and our lone Senior Sara Sturgell finishing out her career it was a pleasure coaching all of them.”
“… This group showed up to practice every day no matter what happened the day before and shows a ton of character. We got shutout in the fourth quarter against Chesapeake and then had an early morning practice and wasn’t sure what was going to happen and it might have been our best practice of the year. They were so fun to coach, we had some girls that had never been part of a team before and some that didn’t start playing until the seventh grade. I told them in life to be present to be there, I told them that I loved them and then I bragged in you when they get introduced you announce where they are from and that who we are a little old school that tries to do things the right way, with kids that are tough and tradition that will continue no matter who the coach is. Play for the name on the front of that jersey.”
