By Stephen Smoot
In December the Pocahontas County basketball squad raced out of the gate, winning their first four games — including 64-53 game in Dunmore against the Wildcats.
Since then, the Warriors have seen mixed results as they have gone three and three — including last weekend’s loss to Pendleton County in Franklin.
The word of the day for Donnie Kopp’s Wildcats was defense. In December, three Warrior players scored in double-digits. Riley Pollock led with 19. On Saturday, Pollock scored six with two others leading her team in scoring, each putting in eight.
The game opened with Pocahontas County taking the opening tip, but struggling to find an opening against the Wildcats’ three-two zone. Jameigh Miller helped her team take the first points by banking in a layup with just over a minute gone in the game.
Both teams played tentatively at first, slowly moving the ball up the court and feeling each other out. Almost 30 seconds after the first basket, Julia Mongold’s three-point shot put the home team’s lead at 5-0. Almost a minute later, Miller scored again when she received a Susan Vincell pass and put in a layup.
The Wildcats shifted between zone and man, keeping the Warriors off-balance. Miller and Jenna Smith proved highly disruptive in picking up steals. Pendleton County also shut down Pocahontas County on the boards. In the previous matchup, the Wildcats got 39 rebounds to the Warriors’ 34.
This time, the Wildcats bodied up the opposition and picked up 47 rebounds to the Warriors’ 30, led by Vincell’s 12, followed by 10 from Avery Townsend.
Rarely could Pocahontas County get second-chance opportunities.
A Townsend coast-to-coast drive and layup with a little over a minute left in the first gave her team an 11-0 lead.
Pocahontas County cut into that advantage by scoring a layup, then shooting a three to open the second quarter. Townsend answered at the 6:32 point by hitting two free throws after being fouled on an offensive rebound.
Pendleton County spent the second quarter holding off the opposition. With 5:37 left in the first half, Townsend found Jessica Parker for a layup to set the advantage at 15-5. The two performed a redux 35 seconds later, establishing a 17-8 lead.
Vincell, however, powered past Pocahontas County repeatedly in this stanza. She took a Townsend pass and executed a perfect drop step move and layup at the 4:37 point. Later in the quarter, she took a Parker pass and used the same move to glide past a defender, score a layup, and give her squad a 23-12 lead with three minutes in the half.
The Wildcats earned their biggest lead of the half when Chesnee Colaw grabbed an offensive rebound, scored a layup, and set the score at 25-14 with around a minute to go. Pocahontas County, however, answered and made the halftime advantage 25-16.
Pocahontas County tightened their defense in the third quarter and came out with more energy overall. Slowly, they eroded away the solid home team advantage. No one scored until the 4:30 mark, when Townsend hit a 12-footer and the Wildcats enjoyed a 12-point lead.
The Warriors started getting more opportunities in the second half of the third quarter, outscoring Pendleton County 15 to five. In this quarter, they also secured several offensive rebounds to extend possessions. With the score 28-20, Smith drove the baseline and laid in a basket to give her team a 10-point lead, but the Warriors then scored five.
Townsend got more active, driving to the basket for a layup and a seven-point lead, but Pocahontas County answered with a layup. Katie Heavner hit one of two from the line with 19.6 seconds, but the Warriors closed out the quarter with a three-point shot and a mere three-point deficit, 33-30.
The Warriors had come from behind to secure the win in December, but this time the Wildcats slammed the door shut in the all-important fourth quarter.
Pendleton County’s playmakers shut down the Warriors and ran away with the game in the fourth quarter. Townsend drove to the foul line, pulled up, and drained a shot a minute and 20 seconds into the quarter. Miller then hit a three-point shot to break the game open with a 38-30 advantage.
Townsend continued to turn the temperature up. She banked in a 14-foot pull up shot with five minutes left in the game to extend the lead to 41-31, then banked in another shot from five feet for another home team score.
Pendleton County finished the game by outscoring Pocahontas County 12 to five in the final period.
Kopp said of the game that the Wildcats usually shoot free throws much better than they showed Saturday. He said that one could use a single word to describe why they won, however, “poise.” Kopp explained that in the previous matchup, the Wildcats enjoyed a three-point halftime lead, but saw the Warriors take the game.
He added that “I’m really proud of the players who came off the bench and contributed big.”
Friday night, the Wildcats take on Union, then host Notre Dame on Saturday.