Dave Morrison
NEW RICHMOND – Wyoming East’s War Zone has been a house of horrors for girls teams having to face the defenseive pressure and outstanding shooting of Warriors teams.
On Thursday the Warriors got an idea of what that looks like when they stepped up a class to face Class AAA No. 2 East Fairmont, which was coming off an impressive win over North Marion in its last outing.
The Bees hit 10 threes, turned defense into offense and any time the Warriors made a run they simply injected another lethal dose of what they do well to sting Wyoming East 66-56.
“It was a mirror-image of us,” Wyoming East coach Ryan Davidson said. “They did to us what we do to a lot of teams.”
With Kenly Rogers driving to the basket for buckets and Kailee Haymond dropping in 3s from the corner and wings, East Fairmont bolted to a 44-34 halftime lead.
“We shot the ball well in the first half, we made shots,” East Fairmont coach James Beckman said. “It’s an easy game if you make shots and a lot of girls were feeling it and we were able to find the hot hand.”
Rogers and Haymond combined for 30 of the Bees 44 first half points. Rogers finished with 23, Haymond 13.
Wyoming East stayed in the game, and cut it to single digits on several occasions.But it didn’t have a field final in the first four minutes of the third and nearly as long to start the fourth.
“It seemed like every time we got it to eight, we had self-inflicted stuff,” Davidson said. “Maybe a missed layup, or we’d turn it over a couple times, or maybe we were just looking for a bail-out on layups instead of just going to the rim. But that’s all part of the stuff we needed to learn. That’s why I’m glad they came down and played us. We needed this.”
The tip to Wyoming East, ahead of visiting Tug Valley Friday, wasn’t anything new for the Bees, who have played in the shadows of Fairmont Senior and two-time champion North Marion.
“You’ve got to look where we came from,” Beckman said. “Fairmont Senior and North Marion have been in our backyard for years. We’ve been home grown with that pressure. We knew what this style was going to be, we knew what this environment was going to be for us. Our kids were hungry coming down here. They stayed the course, they prepped for this moment and boy did they prevail.”
Davidson wanted a tough early-season opponent and he got what he wanted in East Fairmont,
“Honestly I think we got out of it exactly what we wanted,” Davidson said. “We wanted a team that would play fast and was extremely physically,” Davidson said. “We needed that. We needed somebody to push us. Tomorrow when we come in here, we know what we need to work on. We’re going to get better from this. That’s what this is for.”
Maddie Clark had 17 and Cadee Blackburn added 11, all in the first half.
The Warriors return to the court to face Greenbrier West Dec 26 at 5 p.m.
East Fairmont 66, Wyoming East 56
East Fairmont
Kailee Haymond 4 2-3 13, Emma Moore 3 0-0 7, Tarayn Myers 1 0-0 3, Kasey Rogers 0 0-0 0, Kyleigh Fridley 1 0-0 2, Kenly Rogers 10 1-2 23, Kinley Opas 0 1-2 1, Jalyn Jenkins 3 0-0 9, Kyah Stump 0 0-0, Brooklyn Shupe 3 2-2 8, Sophia Demary 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 6-10 66.
Wyoming East
Maddie Clark 5 7-11 17, Cadee Blackburn 3 4-7 11, Abi Baker 2 1-2 5, Charleigh Price 3 0-1 6, Kenna Price 1 0-0 2, Kyndal Lusk 2 3-7 7, Alivia Monroe 2 2-2 6, Gabby Cameron 1 0-2 2. TOTALS: 19 17-32 56.
East Fairmont 25 19 15 7 – 66
Wyoming East 19 15 12 10 – 56
Three-point field goals – EF: 10 (Haymond 4, Moore 1, Myers 1, Rogers 2, Jenkins 3), WE: 1 (Blackburn 1). Fouled out – None.