Gilmer County’s Lena Frymier makes an entry pass during last year’s Class A state championship victory versus Tug Valley. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

GLENVILLE — The road to a repeat Class A state championship already has been met with some resistance for the Gilmer County girls of head coach Amy Chapman.

The Titans, top-ranked with an 11-1 mark, suffered their lone setback to No. 2 Tug Valley, 42-39, two weeks ago.

Fellow Little Kanawha Conference members follow in the coaches poll with No. 3 Parkersburg Catholic, No. 4 St. Marys, No. 5 Ritchie County and No. 8 Wirt County.

Gilmer County rallied from a four-point deficit during the fourth quarter in Elizabeth to escape the Tigers, 45-34, which was three days after the Tug Valley clash on Jan. 17.

“It’s fun to watch. I mean all these programs are gaining and they are getting better and better and better,” admitted coach Chapman. “They are working at their practices, playing tough schedules and getting ready for the end game, too. The process is neat to watch. Of course, I’m always happy for kids that are working hard to have success. That’s what these teams are doing. They are just out there working hard, just like we are.

Gilmer County’s Kenley Hartshorn attempts a foul shot during last year’s Class A state championship victory versus Tug Valley. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“It’s nice for all of us to get battle-tested and see things we need to work on throughout the regular season, and you get that by playing good opponents and that’s just what we’ve been doing. We’ve been playing sensational opponents that are ready to beat us and ready to come and have a game plan and they’re trying to execute and we’re just like them. Trying to execute and trying to find ways to win, and work on the things that we need to work on.”

The Titans started their march toward a repeat with eight straight victories.

Despite the setback to the Panthers, everything is fine for the Glenville-based program.

“I’m not at all displeased with our schedule and who we are playing. It’s definitely beneficial and helping us out,” said Chapman, who replied when asked about having a bigger target on their back this year, “We do mention that teams are ready to come in here and play us and they are going to give us their best effort and we just have to compete back.

“At the end of the day if we compete, we played as hard as we can and if we just come up empty that night then it just is what it is and we move on. It’s not coming in ready to play and playing with fear. That’s not our brand. That’s what we’re trying to make sure we work on and it doesn’t come into our program, and that’s not the way to go out. You just got to be ready and you just got to put up a fight. That’s what we try to instill in our players at this point.”

Ava Dobbins leads the Titans by averaging a double-double of 15.2 points and 11.2 rebounds. She also paces the team in steals (2.2) and blocked shots (3.2 bpg) while twin sister Blair is putting up nearly nine points, better than six boards and 1.5 blocks a night.

Laura Brannon (5.4) and Erin Stoddard (3.4) pace the Titans in assists while Lena Frymier has a team-high 25 triples and is averaging right at 10 points.

Gilmer County is also getting better than five caroms a game from Kenley Hartshorn. Along with quality minutes off the bench from Ariana White, the Titans have seen Calhoun County transfer Paige Sterns provide a boost with a dozen made 3s and averages of 7.8 points, 2.7 assists and 2.1 steals.

“It’s just been a fun process,” Chapman said of trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. “It’s small school coaching and in the high school level you watch the kids grow and learn and you drill them and you put them through situations that they might need work on, and you just find a drill for it so they can learn to correct it. It’s just a fun process to watch.

“The teaching part and them buying in and getting focused, and my girls do, they are such hard workers. They come in ready to work, ready to get better, no complaining, no whining. They just do a great job coming in and putting the work in. Good things are going to happen for teams like that. If they continue to do that from here on out and those players who are stepping into bigger roles, if they work at it and keep getting better then they are going to have some good success at the end of it.”

The Titans are scheduled to get back into action with a Groundhog Day affair at Webster County.

“Wahama (47-25 win on Jan. 23) was our last time in a gym then we had Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off and we’ve been practicing since,” added the coach. “We had a good practice today and going to practice tomorrow.

“We’re back in it. I feel sorry for the people that are not allowed to practice when there’s no school because that’s a long time not being in the gym.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com