West Virginia High School Basketball - Pendleton County overwhelmed by Pocahontas County
January 14, 2016: Dunmore, WV 2493 The Pendleton County Wildcat basketball team (Franklin, WV), was routed 68-27 in Thursday's league battle with the host Pocahontas County Warriors (Dunmore, WV)
The Warriors now sport a 8-5 record. They put it on the line next when they travel to Charleston Catholic for a non-league battle on Saturday, January 16. Pocahontas County will battle a Irish team coming off a 46-40 non-league win over Parkersburg Catholic (Parkersburg, WV). The Irish record now stands at 4-2.
The Wildcat (6-5) will now prepare for their battle against Highland (Monterey, VA). The Rams come into the non-league battle with a 3-3 record.
First Quarter
Pocahontas County started and ended the first quarter with 6-0 runs and finished with a 17-8 lead over visiting Pendleton County. Three Lady Warriors, Sara Ryder, Mary Kelly and Melissa Murphy, who all finished the game with double-digit scoring, started strong with eight, five and six points respectively in the first frame. Pendleton committed only four turnovers in that opening period, and the home team only had one.
The Pocahontas press soon frustrated the Lady Wildcats who turned the ball over 13 times in the second canto to only three for the Lady Warriors, who also stole the ball eight times versus only three times in the starting quarter. Kelley got hot and made 11 points in the second that ended with her team up 38-13, a 25-point lead at the half. The Lady Warriors ended the quarter with a 19-0 run.
Second Quarter
Both teams scored fewer points in the last two periods. The home team would score 30 points versus 38 in the first half. The visiting squad would tally 14 versus 13. Brittney Sharp, off the bench of Pocahontas, led all scorers in the final frame with five points. The Lady Warriors would never trail and took the win 68-27. The 68-point effort was the best of the season and matched the effort in the Tygarts Valley game in late December. Pendleton's biggest loss until this matchup was by 27 points to a very good Class AA Petersburg squad. The Lady Wildcats were without the services of 5'10" senior Alexis Turner, who shares top rebounding honors this season with Caylie Simmons and is third in scoring and second in blocks.
For the second time this season, a Lady Warrior matched a game record that ranked second in school history. Senior first team All-PVC point guard Melissa Murphy stole the ball 12 times and matched the record of Christina Holstine set in the 1998-99 season.
Third Quarter
Holstine's record was broken by point guard Madeline Jerome on December 27, 2008, at Clarksburg Notre Dame with 15 steals.
Melissa also finished with 10 points, six assists, four rebounds and three deflections for a stellar night. Game high scorer honors were shared by juniors Sarah Ryder and Mary Kelley with 20 points each. Kelley left the game before the end of the third quarter to get her knee iced and did not return. Ryder pulled down eight rebounds, and Kelley had three of her team's 24 steals. Nine of the eleven Warriors scored, and six of the nine Wildcats saw actions. All players on both rosters saw action in the contest. High scorers for Pendleton were both juniors, Simmons with nine points and Cheyenne Pitsenbarger with eight.
Fourth Quarter
Pendleton (now 6-5 and 4-3 PVC) won the rebounding tally 26-24, and Pocahontas (now 8-5, 5-1 PVC and ranked #12 in the AP Poll) had fewer turnovers 8 to 31. Both squads are in Section 2 of Region II and will meet another time at Franklin and could possibly meet in sectionals.
