ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic’s girls basketball team has been battle-tested throughout the season, especially in the last four days.
The Irish played on Friday and Saturday, winning games against Tucker County and Lewis County.
Catholic had one day of rest between those two games and Monday’s 8:30 a.m. contest against the Sissonville Indians on day one of the Snyder of Berlin/Utz Snacks Shootout at West Virginia State University.
The one day off and the early start didn’t slow down the Irish as ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic moved to 14-3 by getting past the Indians, 52-29.
Catholic forced 20 Sissonville turnovers and scored 17 points off those turnovers.
“Any time we can turn you over, we want to get out in transition,†ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic coach Wes Hevener said. “We’re better when we run. We do a lot of it in practice. It’s one of those situations where, when they see it and execute it in the game, then it’s good for them.â€
Sissonville fell to 14-4. The Indians have dropped back-to-back games after winning 12 of their first 14.
Sissonville’s 29 points on Monday was its lowest point total this season. The Indians were held to 9 of 45 shooting (20%) and 4 of 22 (18%) from 3-point range.
“We knew it was going to be a tough task,†Sissonville coach Chad McClanahan said. “ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic has been playing well lately. You always worry about playing an early game like this. But, credit them. They came to play, and we struggled to get going in the first half.
“We were sluggish on rebounding and 50-50 balls. We couldn’t get any offensive sets. It was just rough all around.â€
Kynna Britton has been Sissonville’s rock this season, averaging a team-high 22 points per game.
However, Britton was slow getting into a rhythm on Monday as she didn’t score her first points until the 7:30 mark in the third quarter.
The senior guard struggled with foul trouble throughout the contest. She scored a team-high 14 points on 4 of 20 (20%) shooting.
Hevener termed himself “extremely†proud of Catholic’s effort against Britton.
“She’s a really good basketball player, and we knew that coming in,†Hevener said. “We knew she can fill up the stat sheet. She can score in bunches, and to be able to take her out early was a big reason for us jumping out.â€
McClanahan was not pleased with Sissonville’s offensive effort, but he applauded Catholic’s defensive intensity.
“We were having trouble with entry passes,†McClanahan said. “We had 20 turnovers and that’s too many. We knew we were going to get defended hard out front. We have to take care of the ball better.â€
ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic got started early and quickly in the opening quarter, jumping out with a 7-0 run, with Mary Rushworth scoring four of the first seven.
The Irish run grew to 9-2 after Sissonville’s Britton and Makaela Ullman each split a pair of free throws and Catholic’s Molly Messer got a tough layup to fall.
Messer scored 12 points, all but one of them in the first half.
“She played really good defense, first off,†Hevener said. “She did a good job of seeing the court and getting other players involved. She knows when to take the ball to the basket and get shots up.â€
The Indians didn’t get their first basket until Ullman’s back-to-back buckets late in the first frame.
The Irish used a late 6-0 run to end the opening quarter to take a 15-6 lead into the second.
They forced nine Sissonville turnovers in the first quarter while only allowing nine shot attempts.
ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic again got points in bunches in the second quarter as the Irish used a 10-0 run to swell their lead to 25-8.
The Irish were stout defensively again as they held Sissonville to one field goal in the second quarter — a 3-pointer from Ullman.
Ullman recorded 10 points and 11 rebounds on 50% shooting.
Catholic led 28-9 after two quarters.
ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic’s last large run came in the third quarter as the Irish used a 7-0 run, capped by four straight points from Ali Wilcox.
Wilcox produced a game-high 16 points on 50% shooting from the floor. The Irish guard corralled seven rebounds and dished out three assists.
“She’s been playing well, especially in January and now into February,†Hevener said. “She had a really big weekend for us against Tucker and Lewis County. She’s feeding off of that confidence, and you’re seeing it each and every day.â€
The Irish outrebounded the Indians 41-28. Catholic dished out eight assists on 17 baskets.
CHARLESTON CATHOLIC 15 13 10 14 — 52: Wilcox 4-8 6-10 16, Messer 5-10 2-3 12, Rushworth 3-13 3-4 9, Carter 2-3 2-4 6, Aliff 0-5 2-4 2, Gray 1-1 0-0 2, Goetz 1-1 0-0 2, Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Kirby 0-3 1-4 1.
SISSONVILLE 6 3 8 12 — 29: K.Britton 4-20 3-6 14, Ullman 4-8 3-6 11, Hilldabold 1-4 0-0 3, M.Britton 0-4 1-2 1.
3-pointers: ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic 2-11 (Wilcox 2-4, Rushworth 0-3, Messer 0-2, Kirby 0-1, Carter 0-1). Sissonville 4-22 (K.Britton 3-10, Hilldabold 1-3, Elmore 0-4, M.Britton 0-3, Legg 0-2).
Rebounds: ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic 41 (Aliff 9, Wilcox 7). Sissonville 28 (Ullman 10).
