Gilmer County's Blair Dobbins (24) blocks the shot of Tug Valley's Bailee Hall during the Titans' 66-22 Class A state title win Saturday night in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

CHARLESTON — Top-ranked Gilmer County captured its second Class A state girls basketball championship in school history here Saturday night inside the Charleston Coliseum as the Titans smothered No. 2 Tug Valley and snapped the Panthers’ 19-game win streak following a 66-22 domination.

The Titans of head coach Amy Chapman, who won their first state crown back in 2016 while also owning runner-up finishes in 2001, 2022 and 2024, held the Panthers of head man Seth Ooten to a season-low in scoring, which had previously been 41.

Allie Ellyson, who played in her final game alongside fellow seniors Malory Casteel, Summer Bourn and Layla Smith, was named tournament MVP after she saw 31 minutes of action and produced 18 points and six boards to go along with game-highs of nine assists and five steals.

“It means everything to me. I’ve wanted this for so long,” admitted Ellyson, who shared game-high scoring honors with junior teammate Lena Frymier. “To lose two state championships in three years, it was very mentally draining for me, but from the start of the season, and honestly last year, I knew that we could come back here and do the same thing but with a different result and that’s what we did. It was just a surreal feeling to be doing this with everybody that I love.”

Ellyson’s layup 1:54 in finally dented the scoreboard as a Kenzie Browning runner 1:27 later knotted the affair for the only time.

Gilmer County's Allie Ellyson, pictured here being guarded by Tug Valley's Kenzie Browning, was named tournament MVP after helping the Titans to the Class A state championship following a 66-22 blowout of the Panthers on Saturday night in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

At the 2:39 mark, Ellyson assisted on the first of Frymier’s five 3s to make it 5-2 as the Titans led the rest of the way en route to a 23-4 record.

“After I made my first 3 I knew my team was there to hype me up and it just helped lead into the next possession. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” said Frymier, who chipped in four rebounds and three assists while adding “we will try to come back down here and we’ll just have the best season next year, hopefully, and we are going to miss our seniors, of course, and just try to make the best of it.”

Pivot Ava Dobbins followed with consecutive deuces and Frymier added a foul shot before a putback by Dobbins had the Panthers in a 12-2 hole late in first which led to a 13-3 cushion after one.

“I just make sure to keep my hands up and follow the person with the ball and try not to fall into them, just go straight up and swat it out of the air,” replied Dobbins when asked about her blocking abilities as the junior went for game-highs of 10 stuffs, a baker’s dozen boards and hit 8 of 12 from the field for 16 points. “This is my first triple-double ever.

“At first it was like nerve-racking but after that first timeout coach told us to calm down and everybody was a little wild so we calmed down after that and got our offensive flow going and made sure to do our stuff on defense.”

Gilmer County's Ava Dobbins, pictured here looking to pass while being guarded by Tug Valley's Bailee Hall, recorded her first career triple-double in the Titans' 66-22 Class A state championship game blowout Saturday night in Charleston. The junior Titan hit 8 of 12 from the floor en route to 16 points and added game-highs of 13 rebounds and 10 blocked shots. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

During Tug Valley’s semifinal win the Panthers hit a dozen treys. Versus the Titans, Tug Valley missed all 11 of its attempts from beyond the arc and shot just 15.6% (10 of 64) from the field as Haven Deskins had the only Panther assist while leading the team with nine points and grabbing nine rebounds.

“We definitely keyed in on their guards. We have a very good defensive unit and we definitely have one at the helm, Malory Casteel,” said coach Chapman, who watched Casteel help keep TVHS leading scorer Kenzie Browning in check to the tune of five markers. “She did a great job on Browning. At one point she only had one point and every shot she took was a very difficult shot. Credit to Malory. That was her assignment and she executed it really well.

“Honestly, I think they are such a close-knit team. Their chemistry is very, very good. They definitely respect one another. They are very happy with whoever is successful that night and it wasn’t just always one person. It was a total team effort all year and they just knew where the ball needed to go to at certain times of the season, and just defensively they committed to just sitting down and playing good defense all year.”

Laura Brannon’s assist to Blair Dobbins got the Titans going in the second quarter and it was 18-3 with 4:44 to go in the half after Frymier hit from downtown.

Tug Valley got a pair of baskets from Bailee Hall, who had six points and tied Ava Dobbins with 13 caroms, as the Panthers cut the deficit to eight following a 7-0 spurt. However, the Titans ended the half on an 11-0 run to forge a 29-10 halftime bulge. Casteel and Ellyson canned two charity stripe tosses apiece, Ava Dobbins scored twice inside and Frymier drained a 3 after being left open from the top of the key.

Gilmer County's Blair Dobbins (20), Ava Dobbins (24) and Malory Casteel (32) go after a rebound during the Titans' 66-22 blowout of Tug Valley during Saturday night's Class A state championship game in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I’m telling you we’ve had a defensive effort all year. It showed up this week,” added coach Chapman, whose squad held TVHS to 13.3% (4 of 30) in the opening half.

“It was pretty impressive. The commitment to defense this week from the young ladies and the execution and just being able to stay with it all week long.”

Tug Valley, which won the state crown back in 2021 versus Cameron, couldn’t make up any ground the rest of the way as the Panthers trailed 41-18 entering the fourth.

Despite the slow start and having half of their 14 turnovers in the opening quarter, Chapman wasn’t overly concerned.

“I think nerves were showing a little bit. Once they settled down we started to do our thing pretty good,” said the coach, who opened her post game press conference by saying “first of all I want to give glory to God and I want to thank my coaching staff. They are wonderful to work with and they bring so much to the table as far as working with our young ladies. I want to thank our fans. Wow. They showed up this week and really supported us and supported us all year. Really appreciate everything they have done for us and I especially want to thank these young ladies.

Gilmer County freshman Kenley Hartshorn calmly knocks down a foul shot during the Titans' 66-22 blowout of Tug Valley during Saturday night's Class A state championship game in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“What a ride this has been. It’s been incredible. They’ve worked really hard. They are wonderful young ladies and they absolutely 100,000% deserve being here right now with this trophy. It’s just been a blessing. It’s been a great week this week being around them. I hate to see them go. I want to thank my seniors. I love these girls. They are just wonderful, wonderful leaders and great kids in the community. We’re going to miss the seniors. They are all just wonderful young ladies.”

Bourn, a senior role player, put the exclamation point on the championship when she capped the scoring via a corner 3 with 1:11 remaining thanks to an Erin Stoddard dime.

Blair Dobbins finished with seven points, seven rebounds and had the Titans’ other three blocked shots. Casteel, who had two assists and five rebounds, joined freshman Kenley Hartshorn, who grabbed six caroms, with two points apiece.

The Titans were given the school spirit award as Ellyson, Ava Dobbins and Frymier were joined on the all-tournament team by the Panther trio of Hall, Browning and Deskins along with Tucker County’s Raven Matthews and Greenbrier West’s Preslee Treadway.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

The Gilmer County student section looks on during the Titans’ 66-22 blowout of Tug Valley during Saturday night's Class A state championship game in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)