Scott (21-2), the No. 4-ranked Class AA team in the state, punched its ticket to next week’s regional championship game against either Tolsia or Logan with last night’s 64-34 victory over Chapmanville.
With the loss the young Lady Tigers ended their season with a 10-13 record.
Chapmanville, which has no seniors on its roster, lost for the third time this season to the rival Lady Hawks.
The Lady Tigers also fell by 47-33 and 70-40 scores.
This marked the third season in a row Scott had beaten Chapmanville in the sectional finals.
Last year, the Lady Hawks upended the Kara Willis and Kris Garrett-led Lady Tigers 47-33 at Sherman.
Two years ago, Scott upset Chapmanville in the sectional title game on its home floor, 41-40, in overtime.
Chapmanville last won the sectional in 2005 as it beat Scott 41-35 at home and went on to fall 58-36 to Tolsia in the regional finals.
For the Lady Tigers it was their first losing season since going 6-17 in 2004. Chapmanville was 14-7 last year, 17-6 in 2006 and 13-10 in 2005.
For the Lady Hawks, last night’s win moves the team into next Thursday night’s Class AA regional title game at Williamson. Scott will most likely face Tolsia, which played Wayne in last night’s sectional opener and was set to play underdog Logan in Monday’s section final at Williamson.
“It’s nice,” Scott coach John Howard said about winning a third straight sectional title. “But it’s the regional that has been elusive. It would be a dog fight (against Tolsia). These two teams will be going at it hard. It will be our size against their speed and quickness.”
Scott jumped out to a 12-0 lead on Chapmanville and never looked back. The Lady Hawks led 20-7 after one quarter, 40-19 at the half and 60-24 at the end of three. Scott led by as many as 38 points early in the fourth quarter.
Micah Ballard paced the Lady Hawks with a 22-point effort. She had 20 of those points in the first half alone.
Kaitlyn Tadlock had 14, Ciera Bias 12 and Brittani Adkins 10. Holly Turley chipped in with six points. Senior Rachel Holstein, battling a foot injury, played sparingly and did not score.
“Ciera played a good game tonight,” Howard said.
Jenna Vance and Tiffini Hale led Chapmanville with eight points each.
Andi Williamson and Poppy Ramey netted six apiece, while Cortney Willis had three, Brianna Stollings had two and Lydia Vance added one.
Lady Tigers’ coach Ronnie Ooten said Scott has an outstanding team and could make some noise in the state tournament if the Lady Hawks can make it past the regionals.
“They’re better than pretty good. They’re daggone good,” Ooten said of Scott. “I told them all along that if they don’t win it it’s their fault. They’ve got so many weapons inside and outside. They’ve got shooters everywhere. We’ve got shooters but we just don’t have any makers. We just couldn’t stop them. They’re a real physical ballclub. But I’m happy the girls played hard.”
While Scott has three seniors on its team (Holstein, Ballard and Turley) the Lady Tigers have none.
That’s good news for next season and beyond.
“We’re young but we’ve got to get in the weight room and get stronger,” Ooten said. “We just got outmanned out there tonight. Two or three of them are strong but we’ve got to get stronger as a team.”
For Ooten and some of the basketball team members, including Ramey and Williamson, Monday begins a new season.
Softball season, where Ooten’s Lady Tigers are the Class AA defending state champions.
Monday is the first day high school girls’ softball teams are allowed to practice across the state.
“They’re looking forward to it,” Ooten said.
Ooten, a retired educator at Chapmanville, said he will be back for one more season as the Lady Tigers’ basketball coach next year.
“I’ll be back,” he said. “I promised the kids but I started to back up on it. I was upset with some internal problems and some whining and complaining. I started to hang it up but I said,
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