Shay-Lee Kirby named W.Va. MVP in Ohio girls’ triumph
Kirby named W.Va. MVP?in Ohio girls’ triumph
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PARKERSBURG -- On a night focused on battling Cystic Fibrosis, the best of West Virginia and Ohio girls' high school basketball came together in an all-star showdown Friday night inside the Rod Oldham Athletic Center.
It was Ohio that took care of business in the 18th annual BACF Girls' Basketball Classic, 71-62. Despite late drama in the game, Ohio maintained control throughout. After a slow start offensively, Ohio's girls' picked up the tempo in the second quarter. Fairland's Allie Marshall expanded on Ohio's 12-7 lead with an and-1 layup just 27 seconds into the frame. A small shooting drought was ended with a Shay-Lee Kirby fastbreak layup with 6:22 left in the half. The Big Red senior finished with a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds in the losing effort.
That momentum from the layup was short-lived, as Logan's Bethany Starlin hit a triple to push the Ohio lead back to eight with six minutes left. A team effort from Eastern's Jessie Parker and Alexander High's duo of Rachel Richardson and McKena Rice helped the Ohio girls outscore West Virginia 10-4 in the next three and a half minutes of play. Even with baskets from Kirby and Parkersburg South's Kenzie Johnson, the damage from earlier was done. Ohio took a 34-21 lead into the locker room.
Rich Skeen's West Virginia girls came out firing on all cylinders, as the Parkersburg duo of Kirby and Tavien Clark paired nicely with South's Sierra Hays and Johnson.
The quartet combined for 11 of the first 13 West Virginia points, and those 13 points came unanswered. That run tied the game at 34, and Ohio was on the ropes offensively. However, that was the closest the Mountain State girls would get to the lead.
A 15-6 Ohio run over the final 6:22 of the quarter pushed the lead to 49-40.
In the last ten minutes, Ohio had to hold of their counterparts one last time. Up 64-54 with 1:39 left, this battle turned into an all-out duel.
Off an assist from Tyler Consolidated's Peyton Kocher, teammate Josey Jones buried a 3-ball with 1:27 left. Following a tie ball possession, West Virginia got the ball back and knocked down a lauyp from Sissonville's Laila Arthur. Up five, Ohio broke the halfcourt press and went on a mini-run to ice the game. Alexander's Richardson was named Ohio's MVP, as she tallied 14 points alongside her Spartan teammate who had 14 of her own. This win for Ohio ties up the all-time series record at 9-9.
At halftime of the boys' game, another local participant claimed victory, as Tia Jarvis of Marietta outlasted the field in a 3-point shooting contest win.
At the end of the night, it was a game to remember for multiple reasons, but Richardson was happy to be a part of the festivities.
"It felt really fun, especially getting to play with the girls from Ohio" Richardson said. "It was really fun to just get back at it again and get the win."
In Kirby's last high school game, she expressed similar feelings.
"It was more than just a game," she said. "We came out here and played for a cure fro people with Cystic Fibrosis. To come out here and play with a different group of girls, it felt good."