Williamstown's Maggie Frye, who double-doubled with 11 points and 10 rebounds, tries to keep Ritchie County's Elsa Law from coming away with a steal during the Yellowjackets' 55-43 Little Kanawha Conference victory Thursday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

WILLIAMSTOWN — Arissa Burt and Anna Cosner celebrated senior night here Thursday in style as Williamstown picked up a key 55-43 Little Kanawha Conference victory versus Ritchie County.

The now 11-4 Rebels of head coach Dave McCullough, who are ranked No. 5 in Class A, weren’t able to complete a season sweep of the second-ranked Class AA Yellowjackets after securing a 50-45 victory back on Jan. 6 in Ellenboro.

While Quinn Bunch drained five triples and finished with a game-high 18 points for the ‘Jackets, Cosner dished out a game-high seven assists and also was tasked with guarding Rebel Elsa Law.

“Yeah, proud of those senior girls. It’s nice,” said WHS boss Danny Bunch, who got 14 points and seven rebounds from Burt while freshman Maggie Frye double-doubled with 11 markers and 10 caroms. “I felt like it being senior night and Ritchie is a pretty good team. I’ve got a lot of respect for their coach and players.

“For them two to have the kind of game they had tonight, Burt had a pretty good game and Anna does things that don’t show up in the stat sheet. Everybody watching that ballgame tonight knows that she was a big part of it. For them two to have a game like that on senior night makes it even more special.”

Williamstown's Arissa Burt, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, makes a move in the paint while being guarded by Ritchie County's Emily Bush during the Yellowjackets' 55-43 Little Kanawha Conference victory Thursday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Law, who entered the fray averaging better than 23 points, still finished with 13 counters, tied Frye for game-high rebounding honors while also coming away with a game-high four steals to go with a quartet of assists.

“It was just about execution tonight,” admitted coach McCullough. “They came out and they did a little junk defense a little bit and some of the girls had to step up and make some shots early and we didn’t. Then in the second half we kind of did and got us back into it a couple times.

“At the end you’re already down and you have to take some risks and that just hurts you at the end. Danny did a great job tonight. We learned from this. We’re still young. We’ve got some girls who have to learn from this and we’ll just get better from this actually.”

Williamstown, which improved to 14-2 and plays Saturday night at Warren, scored the first seven points and never trailed. Burt opened the scoring with a free throw and then converted a lay-in before Cosner had a putback and Burt assisted on a Gracie Montgomery banked in runner.

Jordin Bailey, who finished with 12 points, assisted on a Law triple with 58 ticks left in the first to make it 8-7, but Bunch closed the quarter with a triple of her own.

Williamstown's Anna Cosner, who celebrated a victorious senior night with teammate Arissa Burt following the Yellowjackets' 55-43 Little Kanawha Conference triumph Thursday versus Ritchie County, changes direction while being defended by Chelsie Jeffrey. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Hoops by Callie Smith and Abbigayl Cox got the Rebels within one at 12-11 early in the second, but WHS responded with eight straight points. Bunch had a pair of 3s sandwiched between a Frye bucket that came following the first of two Montgomery blocked shots.

Although the Rebels closed it to 24-20 with 2:02 left in the half following a Bailey trifecta via a Kesslee Wass assist, Burt responded with a deuce and a trey that ignited a 10-2 spurt for a 34-22 halftime advantage.

“I wasn’t content at halftime because I knew Ritchie wasn’t going to quit,” admitted coach Bunch. “I knew they were going to keep coming back. Basketball is a game of runs and Ritchie played us well over there. I wasn’t content by any means.

“I was on them and we were trying to fix some things at halftime. We had a couple breakdowns defensively. Offensively I was a little frustrated we didn’t execute real well at times. I was never content until about 30 seconds left in that ballgame.”

Williamstown’s intermission cushion was quickly sliced in half as the Rebels opened the third with three straight field goals. Bailey had a pair and Emily Bush, who had eight points and six boards, converted a 16-foot jumper. However, Makaela Bandy answered with a 3 to push the lead back to nine as the Rebels still trailed by the same margin entering the fourth, 47-38.

Williamstown head coach Danny Bunch talks strategy with his team during a timeout of the Yellowjackets' eventual 55-43 Little Kanawha Conference victory versus Ritchie County on Thursday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Law made it a two-possession affair when she hit from downtown to open the third, but Bunch pushed the lead back to nine once again, 50-41, when she answered with a 3.

Ritchie County, which will have an LKC playoff game yet to be announced on Tuesday, proceeded to miss 9 of its final 10 field goals.

“Honestly, it’s so cloudy,” coach Bunch replied when asked if it was a must-win game for the LKC. “I feel like we may still have had an opportunity if we’d lost, but I’m not 100% sure because all of that stuff is pretty confusing. Us winning tonight secures for sure that we’re the number one in our pod.

“We should be one of the top four for LKC. What seed, I don’t know. I would like to think that Gilmer and us would be the top two teams. Hopefully we’ll get another home game next Tuesday. Win or lose we’ll go Saturday to Glenville Waco Center and play for first or either play for third.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com