Reedsville Eastern too strong in Div. VII semifinals against Whiteoak 

LUCASVILLE — The No. 8 seeded Whiteoak Lady Wildcats faced the No. 1 seeded Reedsville Eastern Lady Eagles Tuesday in a Division VII SE District Semifinal game at Valley High School where even though they didn’t back down, it was Whiteoak falling by a 58-29 score to the more experienced Eastern squad. 

Eastern (17-5) took control of the game early and never let go as they led the Lady Wildcats from start to finish, starting with a 7-0 run following baskets by junior Makenzie Robertson, sophomore Braelyn Simpson and junior Ashlynn Thomas for the seven-point lead just under a minute into the game. 

Whiteoak’s first two baskets were from a basket by junior Miley Walker and freshman Libby Webster, but Eastern eventually built a 15-4 lead following another run of six points with two of those buckets by freshman Kyrstin Fackler. 

Whiteoak’s Ella Howard — a freshman — knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:23 left in the first, as they trailed by eight at 15-7. Howard was a co-leading scorer for the Lady Wildcats with 11 points, collecting her points off two 3-pointers, two two-pointers, and she was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. 

Fackler and Robertson led Eastern with 17 points apiece, with Robertson making five 3-pointers and one two-point baskets. Fackler had eight two-point baskets and was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line for the game. 

After five straight points the the Lady Eagles, including a 3-pointer by Robertson, Whiteoak had a free throw made by sophomore Jillian Lucas, the quarter ended with a point scored the EHS for a lead of 21-8. Lucas was the co-leading scorer for Whiteoak with 11 points, finishing the game with three 3-pointers and she was 2-of-4 in her free-throw attempts. 

“We are so young and whenever someone punches us in the mouth we tend to drop our heads and take away from our play, and I try to explain to them we've got to keep going,” WHS head coach Tirrell Cumberland said. “I don’t care about the score, I care about whether we’re playing hard and controlling everything we can control, and I don’t think we did that very well tonight.

“They jumped out on us and we knew who their shooters were, and we let them get two or three open threes early, and it just kind of ballooned from there.” 

WHS (9-14) was outscored 15-10 in the second quarter, but WHS struck first with a basket by Lucas, and following a 3-pointer from Thomas of the Lady Eagles, Howard scored a point from a free throw for Whiteoak. 

Eastern extended their lead to 19 points with consecutive 3-pointers by freshman Emeri Loyd and Thomas, but Whiteoak’s Webster sank a jumper with 3:50 on the second quarter clock, then a free throw .49 seconds later for a 16-point deficit. Webster totaled five points in the district semifinal game. 

The Lady Eagles ended the second quarter with six more points, while Whiteoak scored four more points off a free throw and 3-pointer by Howard for a 36-18 score at halftime. 

Whiteoak was outscored 9-0 in the third frame as Eastern had all nine points scored by Robertson off 3-pointers (5:26, 4:57, 3:38) for a 27-point lead over the Lady ’Cats at 45-18. 

Eastern led the fourth frame at 13-11 with WHS having points scored by Lucas and Howard as Lucas made a layup, and two 3-pointers in the final quarter, while Howard sank one 3-pointer in the fourth frame. 

Other final scoring totals for Eastern were: Atha (1), Simpson (8), Lloyd (5), Thomas (8) and Wilcoxen (2). 

This was a tale of two different seasons for Whiteoak as the first half of the season (the first 11 games they had their full lineup, but the final 11 regular-season games and the two postseason games they were short four players due to transfer rules, including leading scorer Kyra Boyd, one of the top players in the SE District. 

“I knew this year was going to be a tale of two seasons,” Cumberland said of his first year as Whiteoak’s head coach. “I knew what we were getting in the first half wasn’t what we were getting in the second half. I knew when we lost Kyra she was giving us 20 and 10, and that is a big piece of the girls game, especially when you are only scoring about 50 points a game. 

“I knew it was going to be that way, but I also knew the second half was going to be an opportunity for the girls to grow and I think we did that in a lot of aspects. The season was a success overall, the record wasn’t great, but you also add in the fact we are trying to establish a culture with new coaches, a new system, new everything, so overall I’m pretty pleased with how things went. I don’t like losing like we’ve lost in some of these games, but it's all a learning experience and some growing pains.”

Whiteoak had three seniors this season, and they are Kyra Boyd (who played the first 11 games of the season), Savannah Ferguson and Matalynn Conrad. 

“Two of our seniors haven’t played since middle school, so for them to come out and fight through things, and be taught things they haven’t been taught before was great for me to see. All three of them (Kyra, Savannah, Matalynn) were all a part of helping establish that foundation, and that’s what we needed them to do and wanted them to do. I’m very thankful for those seniors and their sacrifice and everything they gave us, and I’m pleased with that.

“Kyra is a special player, she’s worked hard and she’s put in a ton of work to try to reach her potential. She’s played really well in all four years of her career, and I’m thankful for her and everything she’s given to not just my program, but at Hillsboro, pushing through a lot of adversity she’s faced.”

No. 1 Eastern will face No. 4 South Gallia in the district finals on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Valley High School with a 1 p.m. start. 

Whiteoak ends the season at 9-14 overall. 

“I’m excited to get to work this offseason and get some of the young kids a chance to continue to develop. We’ve put together an offseason plan that’s going to focus heavily on skill development and I’m just excited to see what we look like next year,” Cumberland said. “Next year should be a totally different year and a totally different team.”

BOX SCORE
WHS    08 10 00 11 — 29
EHS     21 15 09 13 — 58

EASTERN (58) — M.Robertson 1 (5) 0-0 17, K.Fackler 8 (0) 1-2 17, A.Atha 0 (0) 1-2 1, B.Simpson 4 (0) 0-2 8, E.Lloyd 1 (1) 0-0 5, A.Thomas 0 (2) 2-2 8, B.Wilcoxen 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 (8) 4-8 58. 

WHITEOAK (29) — M.Walker 1 (0) 0-0 2, J.Lucas 2 (2) 1-2 11, E.Howard 0 (3) 2-4 11, L.Webster 2 (0) 1-2 5. TOTALS: 5 (5) 4-8 29.