Lady Grizzlies edged in sectional tournament

For the second straight year, the Nicholas County High School Lady Grizzlies basketball team was eliminated from post-season tournament play by the Princeton Lady Tigers.

NCHS Lady Grizzly Madison Martin comes off a pick set by teammate Kelly Johnson during the sectional tournament game against Princeton. photo by Lundy Bailey II

Unlike last season in which the margin of victory was double digits, this year Princeton hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds to nip the Lady Grizzlies 50-47 in the semifinals of the Class AAA Region 3 Section 2 tournament on Wednesday evening, Feb. 24, at Oak Hill High School.

The loss left the Lady Grizzlies 10-5 overall in a season highlighted by bad weather, which caused the cancellation of numerous games.

NCHS Head Girls Basketball Coach Tom McGirl felt that the lack of games and practices resulting from the cancellations may have affected the team in the late stages of the contest against Princeton because they may not have been in as good of condition as the Lady Tigers.

Nicholas County returns four of five starters next season from this year’s team.

Besides having only three field goals in the second half, inconsistent free throw shooting down the stretch and turnovers while trying to run down the clock also hurt the Lady Grizzlies who had a double-digit lead early in the third quarter.

 

 

 

 

RHS football star Brown signs with WVU Tech

Maxine Corbett
Richwood Editor
Richwood High School star running back Dustin Brown has signed a letter-of-intent to play football at WVU Tech. A special ceremony was held at RHS on Feb. 23. On hand to witness this event were all Brown’s teammates from the RHS 2009 undefeated football team, coaches, and representatives of WVU Institute of Technology.

Brown was awarded a full athletic scholarship. According to Coach Jason Rogers, Brown is the first player from RHS since the 1980’s to receive a scholarship to play football at the college level.

Brown had been courted by several state schools and noted it was a hard decision as to where he would attend college.

“I took a lot of things into consideratiion as to what would be best for my education. Tech made me the best offer. I will be close to home at Tech and I thought about that also.”

During his football career at RHS, Brown set several records in Class A competition. He also shattered school records as well. Among his most notable accomplishments was being the state scoring leader with 322 points. Brown was named captain of the offensive Class A All-State Football Team. He rushed for 2,388 years during Richwood’s magical season. In addition, Brown was honored by being named the West Virginia Army Iron Man of the Year and was nominated to receive the Kennedy Award.

Coach Rogers has in the past praised Brown for his hard work and “can do” attitude. While often being described as an “unselfish” player, Brown was always quick to praise his teammates when being interviewed by the media which occurred on a regular basis as Richwood won game after game. Rogers said playing for Tech would be a “good fit” for Dustin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grizzlies end season with loss to Oak Hill

The Nicholas County High School Grizzly basketball team closed out the regular season with a 66-53 Senior Night setback to the Oak Hill Red Devils on Tuesday evening, Feb. 23, at the Grizzly Den. The loss ended the Grizzly season with a record of 11-5.

NCHS forward Jordan Hogan snags a rebound in last Tuesday’s game with Oak Hill High School at the Grizzly Den. photo by Stan Kozlowitz

A rematch against the Red Devils at Oak Hill was cancelled after being postponed last Thursday evening and then Saturday afternoon by inclement weather.

NCHS will play Woodrow Wilson in the Class AAA Region 3 Section 2 tournament semifinals on Wednesday, March 3, at 6 p.m. at Oak Hill High School. If NCHS wins, they will play on Friday, March 5, at 7 p.m. at Oak Hill High School against either Greenbrier East, Princeton or Riverside for the sectional title. A victory Wednesday would assure the Grizzlies a berth in the Class Region 3 semifinals next week regardless of the outcome of Friday’s contest. The winner and runner-up of Section 2 play the winner and runner-up of Section 1 in the Region 3 tournament with the two winners advancing to the State High School Boys’ Basketball Tournament later this month at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum. In the regional tournament, the winner of Section 1 hosts the runner-up of Section 2 and the winner of Section 2 hosts the runner-up of Section 1.

Lack of rebounding by the Grizzlies proved to be their downfall in the double digit loss to the Red Devils.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacks split games as season’s end draws near

Maxine Corbett
Richwood Editor
The Richwood High School Lumberjack basketball team split a pair of games last week as the season was drawing to a close. This was a season where weather was often a dominant factor. These two games were sandwiched between two snowstorms.

In the first game of the week, Richwood was victorious over Meadow Bridge by a 47-38 final count. The Jacks lost a game the following night at Smithers against Valley where only one point separated the two teams, the final score 36-35.

Richwood-Meadow Bridge
The Lumberjacks took the lead in this game and never looked back, with the edge at the end of the first eight minutes resting at five points.

Meadow Bridge managed to cut the lead to one by the halftime break, but the Jacks came right back in the third to make it an eight point margin as the fourth period began.

When the final whistle blew, the Jacks had a nine point victory. The final score was 47-38.

Emmet Rogers led the Richwood scorers with 14 points, including two three-point goals. Spencer McPherson hit for 12 points and Charles Bard added 10. Cody Smallwood’s nine point total came on three treys.

Meadow Bridge got a 17 point performance from Tyler Bennett. Tyler Vandall scored the lone trey for the losing team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Middle school boys tournament finals at NCHS

The Central West Virginia Athletic Conference (CWVAC) middle school boys’ basketball tournament will conclude on Wednesday evening, March 3, at the Nicholas County High School gymnasium.

The consolation game for third place will be played at 6 p.m. followed by the championship title game at 8 p.m.

The four teams involved are Summersville and Webster Springs from the Eastern Division of the CWVAC and Walton and Spencer from the Western Division of the conference. All four teams advanced to the semifinal round after winning early round tournament games last week.

The pairings for Wednesday’s championship and consolation games were determined by the outcome of the two semifinal contests played on Tuesday evening, March 2.