Oak Glen returns to tourney on roll
By RANDY PAYTON
Sports Editor
THE QUEEN IS A KING – Oak Glen's Kiley King (center) reaches beyond the arms of an unidentified Ritchie County player for control of the ball in last Thursday's Class AA Region I co-final game. King leads the Golden Bears in both scoring and rebounding. She and her teammates will face Tolsia in state tournament play tomorrow. Photo courtesy of East Liverpool (Ohio) Review
NEW CUMBERLAND – When asked if Tolsia compared to any of his team's regular season opponents, Oak Glen head coach Phil Rujak paused before answering.
"They remind me a lot of St. Clairsville (Ohio) and I don't like that comparison because they beat us three times," the third-year head coach of the Golden Bears said. "They like to get up and down the floor, they rebound well and they play a physical brand of basketball."
The two schools will square off tomorrow in the opening game of the state high school girls' basketball tournament.
Tipoff is set for 9:30 a.m., at the Charleston Civic Center.
Tolsia is 19-6 and seeded third in the eight-team Class AA field, while Oak Glen is 16-8 and the No. 6 seed.
The two schools have met two previous times – both in the state tournament – with each posting a victory over the other. The Lady Rebels posted a 68-54 win in the quarterfinal of the 1997 tournament – the first state tourney appearance for each program – and the Golden Bears won 67-33 in the 1999 championship game.
Lujak, whose program is making a second straight trip to Charleston, said his squad is excited about its return trip to the capital city.
"We're tickled to death," he said. "Last year was such a great experience for us that we made getting back there our main goal. These girls have worked very hard to achieve that goal. They deserve this." More on page 1B. For more on this story and many others, subscribe to the WCN or the WCN e-paper today!
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Byard named state’s top player
By MIKE BOWEN
Times-West Virginian
BEST IN THE STATE – North Marion High School's Mariah Byard was named the state's top girls' high school basketball player on Sunday by the WV Sports Writers Association. Byard and her teammates are the top-seeded team in the Class AAA state tournament field. Photo courtesy of Fairmont Times-West Virginian
RACHEL, W.Va. (AP) — Mariah Byard has come a long way since being a ball girl for the North Marion Huskies during her elementary school years.
She joined the Huskies as a freshman and led the team to a state tournament appearance. her sophomore year she led North Marion to the school's first girls' basketball state title.
And now she is the 2009-10 West Virginia girl's basketball state player of the year.
"Wow, I really didn't expect this," said Byard, who thought it was a joke when first informed of the award. "I mean, I'm a junior, I thought there was a chance, but I didn't expect to win."
Not only did she win, but soundly.
Summers County's Hallie Gunnoe was second, followed by Huntington's Erin Bailes, St. Mary's Kelsea Fickieson, Scott's Makenzie White and Martinsburg's Jackie Brewer.
A total of 43 players received votes.
"There were a lot of good players in the state this year," Byard said. "It's nice to be recognized by others around the state."
But excited as Byard is, she's the consummate team player, and has bigger things on her mind. More on page 1B. . For more on this story and many others, subscribe to the WCN or the WCN e-paper today!
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Herd
falls to UCF
For The WCN
TULSA, Okla. - Chelsie Wiley scored a team-best 19 points as eighth-seeded UCF defeated No. 9 seed Marshall, 59-57 in overtime, Monday afternoon, in the opening game of the 2010 GMC Sierra Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
With the win, UCF improves to 10-15 and advances to face regular season C-USA champion Tulane today at noon.
Marshall finished its season at 14-16 with the loss.
Monday's game between UCF and Marshall was the first-ever tournament-opening game to go into overtime.
Wiley was the lone UCF player to post a double-digit scoring total, but the bulk of her scoring came in the final 7:30 of the game.
Down six with 2:43 to play in regulation, Wiley canned a pair of 3-pointers to send the game into overtime and hit 4-of-4 free throws late in overtime to help seal the Knights' victory.
With the score knotted at 47-all at the end of regulation and later at 53-53 with 1:00 left in overtime, Knights' post player Emma Cannon drilled a pair of free throws to give UCF at 55-53 lead with 42 seconds to go. From there, Wiley sandwiched a pair of perfect trips to the charity stripe around two made free throws by Marshall's Mystee Dale to put the game away.
UCF turned 17 first-half Marshall turnovers into a 27-17 lead at halftime, but the Herd came charging back in the second half.
Marshall scored six of the first seven points of the second half and eventually tied the game at 37-all with 8:31 left to play. The Thundering Herd led by as many as six points at 47-41 with 2:43 left to go in regulation but missed five free throws and a field goal the rest of the half to set up Wiley's 3-pointers which extended the ballgame. More on page 1B. For more on this story and many others, subscribe to the WCN or the WCN e-paper today!
