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The Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team battled back from a ninepoint halftime deficit to claim a 55-52 victory over Narrows in a thrilling Pioneer District championship matchup in Buena Vista on Friday.
Victoria Hamilton scored a career-best 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the top-seeded Fighting Blues (19-3 overall, 8-0 district) past the second-seeded Green Wave (11-11, 6-2). Payton Emore notched 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for PM, while Karsyn Reed paced Narrows with 15 points and six rebounds.
The Blues were slated to take on Bland County, the No. 4 seed from the Mountain Empire District, in the Region 1C quarterfinals at home last night. Visit www. thenews-gazette.com for details about that game and regional tournament updates.
The Green Wave led by as many as 10 points (33-23) late in the second quarter and were still ahead by eight with under three minutes remaining in the third. But the Blues stood tall, taking their first lead of the night with just over five minutes to play and making some key defensive stops down the stretch to sweep both the regularseason and tournament titles in the Pioneer.
PM JUNIOR Victoria Hamilton goes up for a shot while Narrows player Ellyn Bowles guards her. Hamilton led all players with a career-29 points and grabbed eight rebounds. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo) “I thought our kids did a really good job. They were resilient,” PM head coach Adam Gilbert said. “There was no panic. … They just had that determination not to lose. That’s the sign of a good team, especially heading into the [regional] playoffs.”
Narrows had control of the game early thanks to a dynamic offensive performance. The Green Wave jumped out to a 9-1 advantage and still led 19-12 by the end of the first quarter. Marayka Knoetze scored all nine of her points in the opening period, and Narrows recorded eight assisted baskets in the frame.
The Blues made some defensive adjustments in the second period, but the Green Wave responded by sinking some tough jump shots. Reed, Emma Helvey and Raigen Clark each knocked down two buckets in the period, and the visitors headed into halftime up 33-24. “Narrows shot the eyes out of it in the first half,” Gilbert said. “We tried to make a little adjustment in the second half – stay a little closer to the shooters, not help off as much.”
PM opened the third quarter with a 12-5 stretch, whittling the gap down to 38-36 on a Hamilton three-point play with 3:54 left. But Narrows countered with a 6-0 spurt, including two more hoops from Reed, to push the margin back to 44-36 with 2:53 to go in the quarter.
Yet the Blues seemed unfazed by the deficit, closing the period with seven straight points to pull within one (4443). PM completed its comeback by tying the score at 48-48 on an Emore free throw at the 6:08 mark of the fourth quarter, and Hamilton gave her team its first lead of the night when she went 1-of-2 at the charity stripe to make it 49-48 with 5:09 left.
Hamilton was unstoppable in the low post after the break, pouring in 12 points in the third quarter alone and tallying 17 of her 29 markers after halftime.
“Victoria was awesome inside,” Gilbert said of his junior forward. “She made good decisions; she didn’t force a lot. When they doubled, she kicked it out, found the open person, and re-posted. … I thought she played extremely well tonight.”
Even with Hamilton’s dominance, the Blues still had some work to do to finish out the game. Clark knotted things up at 50-50 on a driving layup with 3:12 remaining, but a post-up bucket from Hamilton and a long jumper from Natalie Mohler gave the Blues a 54-50 edge with 1:43 to play.
Clark connected from the elbow on the Green Wave’s next possession, trimming the margin to 54-52 with 1:30 left. But Mohler hit 1-of-2 free throws with 39.1 ticks to go, and the Blues came up with several key defensive stops down the stretch – including a game-clinching steal from Tatyana Turner in the closing seconds.
Helvey tallied 11 points for Narrows, while Clark finished with 10 points and Ellyn Bowles notched a game-high five a ssists. M ohler t otaled eight points and three assists for the Blues.
With a gritty comeback in a raucous environment – the PM gym filled up quickly on Friday, with the Pioneer boys’ championship between the Blues and Narrows following the girls’ contest – Gilbert’s squad may have proved its mettle on the eve of the regional tournament.
“That was a gut check for us,” the PM coach said. “The kids truly enjoyed playing in front of that packed crowd. To a man, I think we fed off of that a little bit. Once we got a little momentum, you could feel it; you could sense it in the gym. I think the kids played up to it.”
PM 48, EM 24
The Blues cruised to a 48-24 home win over Eastern Montgomery in the district semifinals last Wednesday.
Despite keeping the first quarter of action close in a 16-10 game, the Blues began to pull away in the second quarter. PM scored nine points behind a 3-pointer from Mohler and free throws from Emore while holding the fourth-seeded Mustangs (5-17, 3-5) to just one in the period. The Blues led at halftime 25-11.
Coming out of halftime, PM’s lead continued to grow behind points from Turner, Emore, Mohler and Hamilton. “I thought we really got after it defensively and really contested shots,” said Gilbert. PM took a 36-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, PM held EM to just three points while closing out the game. Emore scored six of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. Emore also led PM with 11 rebounds, while Hamilton scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Mohler added nine points, six rebounds and five assists.
Hailey Akers and Caiden Roupe led the Mustangs with seven points each.
The Blues overcame poor shooting, just 31.7 percent from the field and 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the free throw line, but they forced 22 turnovers by the Mustangs and held EM to 22.9 percent shooting.
Praising his team for stepping up to pull away from the Mustangs, Gilbert said, “In the second half, we really locked in on both ends of the floor. We didn’t shoot the best tonight, but we found a way to win. Our kids gave a good effort, but we just need to clean a few things up going forward.”
