PARKERSBURG -The night belonged to Parkersburg Catholic senior Leah Hughes.
The 5-10 guard/forward not only was honored for scoring her 1,000th career point, but more importantly tallied a game-high 30 to lead the host Crusaderettes to a 68-62 triumph over Williamstown in a top-10 state Class A duel Friday night.
No. 7 PC, now 11-5 overall and 7-3 in the LKC North, although had to fend off a challenge from the No. 9 Yellowjackets, 7-8 and 6-4 LKC North, in the fourth quarter to secure the win after taking a 54-46 lead into the final period of play.
Williamstown got as close as two, 59-57, with 4:37 to play and then just one, 63-62, with only 55 seconds left as Kenzie Smith turned two straight steals into layup baskets.
But Hughes, who tallied her 1,000th point at 50.5 seconds of the third quarter, canned her final two points of the game on two foul shots at 23.2 seconds of the fourth, Riley Sturm added a free throw at nine seconds and Erica Tracewell stole a 'Jacket inbounds pass for a hoop with 3.3 seconds remaining put away Williamstown.
After Hughes' 30 came Maddie Roedersheimer for Catholic with 16 points, Alex Schaffer with eight and Ellen Roedersheimer with five, as PC split on the regular season with the Yellowjackets, who previously had won over the Crusaderettes in overtime.
Fact Box
No. 7 Parkersburg Catholic 68,
No. 9 Williamstown 62
Williamstown 11 26 9 16 - 62
Catholic 16 16 22 14 - 68
WILLIAMSTOWN (7-8, 6-4 LKC North)
Jessie Kerns 0 0-0 0, Kenzie Smith 8 2-6 19, Carley Ellison 2 3-8 7, Sami Rea 1 2-4 5, Kathleen Cornell 4 6-8 16, Brooke Cieslewski 4 0-0 11, Lauren Amos 2 0-4 4, Cami Mossor 0 0-0 0, TOTALS: 21 13-30 62. 3-point goals: Smith 1, Rea 1, Cornell 2, Cieslewski 3
CATHOLIC (11-5, 7-3 LKC North)
Ellen Roedersheimer 2 0-0 5, Maddie Roedersheimer 7 2-2 16, Rachel Nill 2 0-1 4, Leah Hughes 11 6-6 30, Erica Tracewell 1 0-0 2, Riley Sturm 1 1-2 3, Alex Schaffer 4 0-0 8, TOTALS: 28 9-11 68. 3-point goals: E. Roedersheimer 1, Hughes 2
JV game: Williamstown 53, Catholic 29
JV scoring - Williamstown: Charlotte Gray 12, Melissa Cieslewski 12, Cami Mossor 4, Andrea Chidester 4, Carli Harlan 7, Laura Petty 5, Shania George 5, Allie Robinson 4; Catholic: Alex Schaffer 2, Kate Clowes 4, Kimberly Samolitis 12, Ellen Roedersheimer 2, Meredith Koerber 2, Meaghan LaBarre 2, Reily Sturm 4, Elizabeth Wells 1
Next games: Williamstown at Cameron today; Trinity at Catholic today, JV at 1 p.m. and varsity at 2:30 p.m.
For Williamstown, Smith - also closing in on 1,000 career points - netted 19, followed by Kathleen Cornell with 16 and Brooke Cieslewski with 11.
A close first quarter ended with Catholic on top 16-11, only to see Williamstown use a 26-16 second-period point advantage to take a 37-32 halftime lead.
Then the third quarter saw another reversal of fortune as Catholic scored 22 to only nine for the Yellowjackets to surge into an eight-point lead going to the last period.
Williamstown, though, missed 10 of 14 foul shots in the fourth - in going only 13-of-30 from the line for the game - to scuttle any comeback hopes in the final quarter.
For the game, Hughes connected for 11 field goals, including two treys, and went 6-for-6 at the line for her 30-point total.
