Ritchie County talks strategy during a timeout in Wednesday's 49-28 victory versus Doddridge County in a Class AA, Region II co-final. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

ELLENBORO – Abbigayl Cox’s 3 via a Callie Smith assist with 44.4 remaining here Wednesday night in a Class AA, Region II co-final put the exclamation point on Ritchie County’s 49-28 victory versus Doddridge County as the Rebels of head man Dave McCullough punched their ticket to Charleston and the state tournament for the first time since 2017.

Emily Bush, who had nine of her 15 markers in the first, opened the scoring 25 ticks in with a 15-foot jumper thanks to a Chelsie Jeffrey dime.

Although the Bulldogs (15-9) of head coach Lisa Cheeseman, who lost 45-30 in late January to the Rebels before winning 42-39 a couple weeks later in West Union, proceeded to score the next nine points, the hosts ended the quarter on a 12-0 run and never looked back.

Lone senior Rae Rupert led the victors with game-highs of 16 points, 10 rebounds and six steals as the now 16-7 Rebels were given the No. 7 seed and will take on No. 2 seed St. Marys in the state quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Charleston.

“I’ve been practicing a lot on my free throws because one game I didn’t shoot that well and it cost us the game so that’s what I’ve been really trying to work on,” admitted Rupert, who drained 8 of 9 from the charity stripe. “I just knew we had the heart and hustle and I knew that my team is like glue. We’re sticking together and I had so much confidence coming in here. I knew it was going to be a hard match.

Ritchie County's Emily Bush, who scored nine of her 15 points in the first quarter, has her shot blocked by Doddridge County's Kim Adams during the Rebels' 49-28 Class AA, Region II co-final victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Doddridge has a lot of heart, too, but I feel like we wanted it a little bit more. I knew we had a chance. I knew we always had a chance. Starting out we were winning and then got in a slump, but after that we just said we had to kick it in gear and it’s business. We’ve played bigger teams and tougher teams like Wayne, and we stuck with them for a little bit, but we don’t give up.”

Doddridge County, which shot 30.2% (12 of 39) and missed 8 of 9 from beyond the arc, had 10 of its 27 turnovers in the second quarter.

The visitors faced a 27-14 deficit at intermission as Law, who had nine points, three steals and a game-high six assists, knocked down a deep 3 at the buzzer in front of the DCHS bench.

“It feels really good. All the glory to God,” admitted the sophomore Law. “I mean we worked so hard and we’ve had our eye set on this since summer. We’ve been ready to take any team down that we need to to get there. We’ve been waiting for this and we’re really excited.”

Despite watching the quick 2-0 lead turn into a 9-2 deficit on their home floor, Law wasn’t overly concerned.

Ritchie County's Rae Rupert, who had game-highs of 16 points, 10 rebounds and six steals, sets a screen for teammate Elsa Law against Doddridge County's Jaycee Lipscomb during the Rebels' 49-28 Class AA, Region II co-final victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We helped keep each other’s heads up,” added the point guard. “At that point we all kind of said like ‘it’s OK. It’s only seven points. It’s just a few baskets and we got this and we got to come back, keep each other’s head up and keep going’, and that’s how we got out of that real fast.

“Rae’s a great leader. She wasn’t here last year, but she came in and really stepped up. She’s a great player and helps lead us everyday. We couldn’t be here without her or any one of these girls on this team.”

Just a dozen seconds into the third, Law found Bush open for a 15-foot jumper to increase the Rebels’ lead to 15 as the hosts held a 35-23 advantage entering the fourth.

“I got a great night of sleep and I was just so motivated,” said Bush, who tied her career-high with 15 points. “I got a bunch of signs with motivational quotes and put them all around the locker room. I was making sure my team felt the best we could to play this game because I know we needed it, and we needed to keep our heads up. This is the best feeling I’ve ever had in a basketball team. It made basketball feel like home.

“We all do our parts. We all have our parts and then we just come together as one team, and we’re one. It all flows together and we all work together. We’re like a puzzle. We all have a piece and once we have that puzzle together we’re just amazing. We had a lot of motivation. They are our rivals and they’re right down the highway. We did our best. We played our best and we were there for each other when we needed it.”

Ritchie County fans celebrate during the Rebels' 49-28 victory versus Doddridge County in Wednesday's Class AA, Region II co-final. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

McCullough, who is in his 18th year as head coach, is back in the state tournament for the second time. He was an assistant on a quartet of RCHS squads that reached Charleston under then head coach Terry Spangler.

“We were kind of messing around with our defenses a little bit,” coach McCullough admitted. “We knew if we kept messing with it maybe it would play with their minds a little bit so we came out in a 1-3-1. We put that in yesterday.

“We didn’t even have it in all year, but we weren’t getting to the shooters so that wasn’t going to work. We went back to our bread and butter, the 2-2-1 press, 2-3 and threw in some triangle-and-two. We were just kind of mixing it up a little bit to keep them off-balance a little bit.”

The Bulldogs, who got 10 points from Aleigh Cheeseman and eight by Payton Trent, also received five markers from lone senior A’Kaia Williams.

Jeffrey added five steals and three assists while Bush had two blocks, but ‘Dog Kim Adams swatted a game-high four.

“Everyone complains about regions and all that stuff and locations and stuff like that. You know, it’s what you’re dealt with,” added coach McCullough. “Back in (20)01 we had to beat the undefeated, number one team in Bridgeport to go to the state. That was Missy Spangler’s 2001 season. When you look at that it’s what you’re dealt with.

“Whatever you’re dealt with you go and you gotta play it and hope that you get to this point. They all know their roles and they take part in it. Tonight you could see Elsa wasn’t scoring early so other people picked it up. Everyone bought in to just let’s win the game, don’t worry about stats, let’s go play good defense and things will turn out right for them, and it did.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com