What seemed to be the longest high school basketball season in West Virginia prep history has finally come to an end.
Snow wrecked part of the campaign for many teams, which had to cancel games and shorten the slate, making State Tournament preparations precarious at best. Still, the final two weeks of the Mountain State prep hoops season ended the way most expected, even if all of the top seeds didn’t win championships.
The girls state champions were North Marion (Farmington) (Class AAA), Summers County (Hinton) (Class AA) and St. Joseph (Huntington) (Class A).
The boys state champions were Logan (Class AAA), Oak Hill (Class AA) and Parkersburg Catholic (Class A).
Great girls basketball performances
1. The best player in the Class A portion, and maybe all of the tournament, was St. Marys junior Kelsea Fickiesen. In three games, the 5-8 junior guard averaged 18.7 points, shot 52.8 percent (19-of-36) from the field, was 17-of-23 from the free throw line, and averaged 10.3 rebounds, 6.7 assists and four steals per game.
2. Summers County’s Hallie Gunnoe wowed the crowd at the Charleston Civic Center by averaging 20.7 points in three games to lead the powerful Bobcats to their fourth consecutive Class AA title. The 5-foot-11 junior guard, who averaged 21 points during the regular season, helped Summers beat Frankfort, Ravenswood and, in the title game, Scott 58-50. The high-pressure Bobcats averaged a State Tournament-best 71.3 points. Gunnoe led all scorers in all classes.
3. Scott sophomore Makenzie White got the Skyhawks to the championship game, although they couldn’t solve the Bobcats. She averaged 19.7 points and was 22-of-48 (45.8 percent) from the field in three games.
The brightest future
Wheeling Park freshman starters Haley Robb and Emily Puskarich helped the Patriots to the State Tournament for the first time since 2002. Despite a 56-53 first-round defeat to Parkersburg South, Wheeling Park used a late surge to put a scare into the Patriots of Wood County. Robb was 4-of-6 from 3-point range and Puskarich had 20 points and was 7-of-8 from the foul line.
Great boys basketball performances
1. What can anybody say about West Virginia University recruit Noah Cottrill? The 6-2 Logan High School senior shook off a forgettable first-round game against Hedgesville to lead the Wildcats to their seventh state title with victories over Capital and Wheeling Park.
Cottrill was focused in the semifinal and championship games as the Wildcats won their first Class AAA crown since an 86-78 victory over Beckley in 1991. The Gatorade State Player of the Year and the West Virginia Sports Writers Player of the Year averaged 25.7 points in three games. He was 13-of-22 (59 percent) from 3-point range. He spent much of the evening signing autographs following Saturday night’s 63-48 victory over Wheeling Park.
"It’s tremendous," Cottrill told The Wheeling Intelligencer. "It’s a great way to end my high school career and you can’t put it any simpler than that."
2. Parkersburg Catholic’s Cole Cwynar helped the Crusaders win the second state title in school history, finishing with 27 points and eight rebounds in a 56-45 Class A championship victory over Charleston Catholic. The Fighting Irish’s sixth consecutive berth in the title game came up short for the fourth time with Cwynar hitting all three of his 3-point attempts and eight of his 14 field goal tries overall. Cwynar averaged 17.3 points in three games.
3. Cottrill wasn’t without help, as junior guard Paul Herbert Williamson averaged 23.3 points. Arguably the strongest guard in Class AAA regularly powered his way on drives to the basket against Wheeling Park.
4. The Oak Hill trio of Deandre Leonard, Jack Flournoy and Kalif Wright stole the show in Class AA, leading the Red Devils to an upset of top-seeded Wyoming East. The Warriors had won two of the last three Class AA titles, but were denied last weekend. While most of the attention was fixed on Wright and Flournoy, Leonard led all tournament participants in rebounds (12.3 per game), assists (6.3) and steals (3.7).
Not to be outdone, Wright gave Oak Hill plenty of second chances with 4.7 offensive rebounds per game. Flournoy blocked 13 shots in three games for an average of 4.3.
Rich Stevens, a sportswriter for the Charleston Daily Mail, covers West Virginia for MaxPreps.
