PHS girls roll in sectional vs. Hurricane

PARKERSBURG -- Two-time defending state champion Parkersburg High School appeared to have its hands full with visiting Hurricane in a Class AAAA Region IV, Section II semifinal Wednesday night inside the PHS Memorial Fieldhouse.

But then the second quarter began ... once the Big Reds stretched their legs and shook off six days of rust, everything fell apart for the visitors. By hitting the Redskins with a 18-2 blitzkrieg, PHS never again worried about their southern foe in a 64-43 victory.

"They just played hard and they just want to win," assistant coach Phil Wilson said of his group's effort. "At this point in time they just want to go out there and smash teams and we are going to let them go out and smash them."

Sierra Mason scored 23 points, Kisten Roberts tallied a double-double of 10 points and 10 boards, and the Big Reds outrebounded the Redskins' 40-24 in setting up the rubber match with Parkersburg South at 7 p.m. Friday inside the Rod Oldham Athletic Center.

The period was a huge setback for a Hurricane team who trailed just 17-12 after the first eight minutes.Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. PHS pounced on them with an early 14-0 run, but that was countered with a 0 for 5 effort from the visitors. It was made only worse as the Redskins couldn't get any second chances as they had just two total rebounds.

Roberts started the scoring streak with a layup off an assist from Sierra Mason. Two Trinity Balog buckets pushed the run to 6-0, before a Mason triple and layup sent the streak to 11 points. Brilynn Florence's triple set and a Roberts deuce put the finishing touches on it, before Erin Dempsey finally put an end to it with her bucket at the 2:25 mark.

Wilson, though, wouldn't go as far as to say it was all the Big Reds.

"It was a mix of both our defense and their bad shooting. Right now, we are still working on our defense and shifting and are trying to work on new defenses and you are going to see kids out of position and getting into position and we have to make sure everyone is moving at the speed we want them to move at," Wilson said.

Regardless, the visitors only mounted one meaningful spurt after their hosts pulled away.

Natalie Dempsey, Maggie Oduor, and Lauren Dye combined on an 11-2 run. Oduor tallied five of her team-high 20 points during the spurt, while Dempsey chipped in four more points. Oduor's trey at the top of the key was the big shot, but the Redskins couldn't sustain their good fortune. Everything turned sour as Erin Dempsey's late deuce were the only other points for the Skins.

Talk about a bad time for a drought. The Big Reds couldn't get anything going in the period and finished just 2 of 16 from the field in the quarter. In other words, it was the perfect time to mount a comeback. Yet, the moment faded just as quickly as it arrived.

The Big Reds found another streak, this one 15-4 stretch, and permanently ended the Redskins season.

The victory was a stark contrast from the one not even a month ago in Hurricane. In that game, PHS needed a last-minute shot to escape with a 41-36 win. Now, the Big Reds are on to a date with the Patriots and perhaps the biggest game of both teams' season. While it would be accurate to point out both teams will play in the regional final despite a loss, who and where they play either team is crucial.

Neither group fared well against Huntington and PHS only had slightly better luck with Cabell Midland, but together the two Parkersburg teams are 0-3 against their potential regional co-final opponents.