St. Albans’ Ivi Binion climbs over Parkersburg’s Lauren Flanagan as both girls try reaching for a loose ball during Thursday’s game at Memorial Fieldhouse in Parkersburg. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG — If Parkersburg’s first shot attempt of the 2025-26 girls basketball season is any indication, the Big Reds might just enjoy the adventure that follows.

Thursday at Memorial Fieldhouse, senior Lauren Flanagan buried a 3-pointer 15 seconds into Parkersburg’s season-opener against St. Albans. The rest of the Big Reds followed Flanagan’s lead while building a 34-point lead late in the first half en route to a 72-38 win.

Big Red junior Frances Guice led all scorers with 21 points, while Kennedy Porter dominated the interior for a monster double-double of 18 points and 22 rebounds. Flanagan contributed another 12 points to go with a team-high five assists.

“That was a good energy we came out with,” said PHS coach Chris Murray after he watched his girls build a 20-1 lead in the latter stages of the first quarter. “All in all it was a good start. There’s a lot to work on and there’s plenty of film for us to go fix.”

St. Albans suffered its first loss and slipped to 2-1. The Red Dragons graduated 67% of their point production from a team which reached the Class AAA state semifinals. Their starting lineup against PHS consisted of two juniors and three sophomores.

Parkersburg’s Kennedy Porter, right, pulls down a rebound as St. Albans’ Alana Hermansdorfer applies pressure during Thursday’s game at Memorial Fieldhouse in Parkersburg. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

It didn’t help matters when their leading scorer Triniti Austin-Russell collided with a Big Red defender not even three minutes into the contest. She laid on the court for several minutes then was escorted by her assistant coaches.

She checked back in for the start of the second quarter with her team trailing 20-3. Behind 12 first-half points from Flanagan, 11 from Guice and another 10 from Porter, PHS continued to extend the gap to 40-6 with less than one minute remaining before halftime.

“I’ve said this from the beginning – I think Parkersburg has got to be one of the favorites to win quad-A basketball,” St. Albans coach Elias Gregory said. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you things would be different if we had Trinity the entire game because that’s a really, really good team with a really, really good coach.

“Obviously, it doesn’t help to get buried in a hole like that right off the bat.”

In the final 23 seconds, Russell knocked down a 3-pointer and added a three-point play the old fashioned way as part of team-high 16 points.

Parkersburg’s Frances Guice, right, gets double-teamed by a pair of St. Albans defenders during Thursday’s game at Memorial Fieldhouse in Parkersburg. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“When Trinity collided, it kind of wrenched her neck a little bit,” Gregory said. “As far as any pain, she seemed like she was not in a very good situation. She was on the sidelines with an ice pack on her neck and didn’t know if she was coming back or not.

“Her dad, who is one of our assistants, gave me the sign she was good to go. So that’s how I kind of got the word she could play.”

Out of the gate in the third quarter, St. Albans continued the run and outscored the Big Reds 14-2 over the first five-plus minutes and shave the deficit to 42-26. Coach Murray chose to sit Flanagan as his primary point guard after she picked up her fourth foul less than two minutes into the second half.

“I was very nervous coming into this game,” Flanagan said. “With this being my senior year, I was just hoping that we could start the year off right. In the first quarter when that first shot went in, I just let out a big sigh.

“I can’t wait to see what this season brings.”

St. Albans’ Trinity Austin-Russell is escorted to the sidelines after suffering a first-quarter injury during Thursday’s game against Parkersburg at Memorial Fieldhouse. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Murray, who feels he can go 13 deep without much of a falloff, found the right combination as the Big Reds extended the gap to 61-30 two minutes into the fourth quarter. During that span, Brooklyn Allen buried two 3-pointers in the final moments of the third period and Lucie Cline showed off her passing prowess with four assists. On three occasions, the recipient of a Cline find was Guice. Two made field goals dropped in as 3-pointers as part of her team-high four for the game.

With the win practically in hand, Guice remained on the court for several defensive possessions to join her younger sister, Maria, at the top of the 2-3 zone. The freshman scored her first two varsity points as part of a 6-0 run to close out the scoring.

“We never played together in middle school, so it was really cool to play with her,” Frances Guice said. “And to see her score, that was great.”

With Porter’s effort on the boards, Parkersburg doubled St. Albans’ rebound total 50-25. She followed the gameplan of coach Murray to a ‘T’ and dished the majority of her offensive rebounds back to the perimeter to give her shooters the opportunity to bury a three.

“I would rather have 20 boards than 20 points – that’s just the type of player I am,” Porter said. “If three people are on me, I know my teammates are open and I can kick it out. I have full faith they are going to make it any day.

“I’m just anxious to play games – I wish we could play every day. But we have some things we still have to work on. Obviously, I like tonight’s win. Our goal is getting to Charleston and seeing what we can do there.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com