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Williamstown falls in state title game

Williams-town’s Courtney Dotson, left, drives with the ball during Saturday’s Class A state final aginst Saint Joseph Central at the Charles-ton Civic Center. Photo by Michael Uhl

CHARLESTON — One year after a Little Kanawha Conference team (Gilmer County) sent Huntington St. Joe to its first Class A state title game loss in eight years (42-41), the Irish made it back to the final contest of the year to face another LKC team in Williamstown Saturday inside the Charleston Civic Center.

Unfortunately for Fred Sauro and his Yellowjackets, the result did not read in Williamstown’s favor after the final buzzer of the year sounded.

Huntington St. Joe held the Yellowjackets to 27 percent shooting and scored 22 points off 20 turnovers to capture the school’s eighth title in nine years, 64-46.

“When you go through the run we had it was just absolutely incredible,” said Sauro. “You go from a sixth seed playing the number three team in the state, to the next day the number two team in the state, then to my opinion the number one team in the state. And they were only a five seed because of the difficult schedule they play. We played a difficult schedule and it prepared us for this and their schedule prepared them well too.

“I think they are a very skilled, talented team. There is a song and I told the girls ‘This is what you came for’ well this is why we came. We wanted to get here and we wanted to win it. These guys gave a yeoman’s effort and I think in the end we felt a little disappointed but a still wonderful, wonderful job. These kids are tough, just tough as pine nuts and we are just really, really proud of them.”

Photo by Michael Uhl Williamstown’s Bethany Wager, right, drives with the ball during Saturday’s Class A state final against Saint Joseph Central at the Charleston Civic Center.

Ashley Morris ended her spectacular tournament performance and brilliant Williamstown career with a baker’s dozen in points for the only double-digit scoring effort for the Yellowjackets. Sam Dedrick finished with seven markers in the contest.

In addition to Morris and Dedrick, three other seniors contributed in the championship game. BreeAnn Reynolds splashed a triple, Victoria Clark added five points and Brooke Stewart scored three points.

Huntington St. Joe broke open a close 11-9 game with a quick-hitting 10-0 streak to end the first quarter of action up 21-9. The Irish caused three Yellowjacket turnovers and all Irish starters had a bucket during the run.

Williamstown’s only points in the opening period came from behind the 3-point line. Ashley Morris connected on a pair of treys and Courtney Dotson added another to cut the lead to two.

Sauro’s squad cut the lead to six points early in the second quarter but couldn’t keep the scoring up. The Yellowjackets missed five shots on a three-minute scoring drought.

Meanwhile, the Irish rebuilt their advantage back to double digits. Tyesha Taylor canned a two with 3:33 left before halftime to give the Huntington St. Joe its biggest lead of the game at 16.

Dedrick scored six of her points, while Reynolds added a trey with 11 seconds left and decreased the deficit to 39-28 at halftime.

Williamstown attempted to get back in the contest several times in the second half but Shannon Lewis’ team had none of it. The Irish used consistent pressure and several one-minute scoring spurts to hold the Yellowjackets back.

“They are so quick and they can throw it on and off like that,” said Sauro. “We aren’t a team with that much quickness and it is difficult for us to come back. Because they were such good ball handlers it made it difficult for us to press them too.”

An extended zone matchup caused problems for Sauro’s team in the third period and proved to be the fatal blow. The Yellowjackets hit just one of 13 shots from the field and watched the Irish pull away.

“They are so quick and they can throw it on and off like that,” said Sauro. “We aren’t a team with that much quickness and it is difficult for us to come back.

“I knew that our team was capable of getting there,” said Dedrick. “It was awesome. We have been working since our freshman year to get here and we just had to work as a team and fight for it and we did. We just didn’t get the outcome we wanted.”

“I didn’t think so,” said Morris. “But we fought and we were really happy to get here.”

Both Morris and Dedrick were named to the Class A All-Tournament team along with Huntington St. Joe’s Taylor, Paige Shy, Bailey Adkins, Jarrells, Summers County’s Whittney Justice and Wheeling Central’s Taylor Duplaga.

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