PARKERSBURG - And the streak goes on!
Guards Taryn McCutcheon and Keya Bartlett each scored 21 points to pace previously-winless Parkersburg South to a resounding 70-41 girls basketball triumph over Class AAA city rival Parkersburg High Tuesday night at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center.
It was the 18th straight victory by the Patriots over the visiting Big Reds at the ROAC since 2001, and this one wasn't that close as South led by 17 at the half and turned it into a 30-point rout late in the fourth quarter.
Article Photos
Parkersburg South's Taryn McCutcheon is fouled as she puts up a shot over Parkersburg's Haley Ackerman during their game Tuesday. South scored a 70-41 win over Parkersburg. (Photo by Jeff Baughan)
PHS, now 3-3, was hampered by being without the services of 6-foot-4 Kennedy Walker, who suffered a concussion in PHS' last game, and then lost Kailey Cox, who broke her nose in the first quarter.
But after a tight first period won 11-8 by South, the Patriots, now 1-3, broke loose for a 27-point second stanza as freshman point guard McCutcheon led the assault with 11 points in the quarter to almost herself outscore PHS, which only notched 13 to fall behind 38-21 at intermission.
In the third quarter, the Big Reds started strong with a 5-0 burst to slice the gap to 38-26 until McCutcheon had a steal for a layup and connected on a trey from the corner to stem the PHS tide and give the Patriots back a 17-point bulge, 43-26, at the 4:44 mark.
Then in the fourth, Bartlett got revved up, tallying 11 of her points in the period as with just over a minute to play, South's lead crested at 30, 70-40, on a basket by Katelyn Byrd.
For PHS, Imani Ward led the point production with 21, with Haley Ackerman was next in line with six, while Carlie Wilson added nine points, Lacey Cale seven and Kasey Williams six for South.
''Once we got it going, and with our defensive pressure, things just kind of went our way,'' said South head coach Scott Stephens. ''I know (PHS head coach) Kenny (DeMoss) was missing some kids. But the first win of the year, at home and against PHS - it can't get much better than that.''
After starting 0-3, ''we're trying to push the ball in transition more, we're trying to play a little faster, we're trying to get down before the defense gets set up,'' said Stephens. ''The first three games, we were too slow and too deliberate.''
For DeMoss now, ''our go-to kids other than Imani are injured, so that really requires your bench to step up and play. But we also turned the ball over like crazy and they couldn't miss from the 3-point line.
''Sure, Imani tried to bail us out, but South made that hard because they did a really good job doubling from the weak side on her.''
