Spring Valley did just enough to stave off St. Albans on Tuesday in prep girls basketball.
The Class AAAA No. 1 Timberwolves walked away with a 52-49 victory at St. Albans High despite a 23-12 run by the Class AAAA No. 8 Red Dragons in the final eight minutes of play.
The Timberwolves (12-2) have won four in a row and 12 of their last 13 games, while St. Albans’ (11-4) four-game win streak was snapped. It was the Red Dragons’ first loss in a month as St. Albans’ last setback was a 53-48 road defeat against Greenbrier East on Dec. 17.
With 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Spring Valley leading 51-49, the Red Dragons inbounded the ball looking to tie or take the lead. Laynie Binion airmailed a corner 3-pointer and Spring Valley secured the rebound, which secured the win.
St. Albans coach Rick Steele said the matchup was a Class AAAA heavyweight bout and he liked his team’s effort.
“I saw two teams in the ring like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier,” Steele said. “It was a battle until the end. It really was. I guess that’s what you want. Last year we lost to this team by 30-plus points. I don’t like moral victories at all. I feel like we’re supposed to be playing these teams tough like this. They’re the No. 1 team in the state. That’s what you’re going to get, a good battle.”
Spring Valley coach Bo Miller said his team was lucky to win in a hostile environment against a good team. “They really woke up there in the fourth quarter and started lighting it up,” Miller said of St. Albans. “We just held on long enough to get a win. We got it in the hands of our point guard Hallie Bailey. We had trouble there a few times trying to get it to her, and when she doesn’t have the ball, bad things happen.”
Bailey finished with 12 points, tied with Haleigh Crum for the team high for Spring Valley, which never trailed.
Spring Valley built separation at multiple points. The Timberwolves started out on an 11-1 run, but St. Albans hung with them and trailed 23-17 at halftime.
The Red Dragons came out swinging to start the second half as Binion and Nini Pannell put together a 5-0 run. Pannell’s 3-pointer made the score 23-22, Timberwolves.
That was as close as St. Albans got to tying or taking the lead. Spring Valley responded with a 15-0 run to lead 38-22, the largest of the game for the Timberwolves.
Spring Valley had a 40-26 advantage after three quarters.
That cushion was key for the Timberwolves as Samyah Riggan — St. Albans’ weapon off the bench — and Pannell had hot hands in the fourth. Riggan scored nine of her 12 total points in the fourth while Pannell hit two 3-pointers en route to a 10-point fourth.
Spring Valley hit just three field goals in the final period compared to St. Albans’ nine.
Steele talked about having Riggan at his disposal off the bench.
“To be able to have her come off the bench, our team is really blessed to have girls like her to come off the bench and provide us a spark and hit some shots and play some good defense,” Steele said.
With 50 seconds left in regulation, Jaycee Elzy hit a jumper in front of the basket, making the score 51-49, and the Red Dragons followed it with a defensive stop, priming them to tie the game or take the lead.
That was not to be, though, as the Spring Valley defense held serve, forcing Binion to take a contested 3-pointer that sailed over the rim.
Miller explained his team’s defensive strategy.
“We had to play defense and get a hand up in their face,” Miller said. “When they shoot it, we have to box out and go get the rebound, just limit them to one shot.”
Steele called a timeout before St. Albans’ final possession with 26 seconds left in the fourth and he said poor decision-making led to the missed scoring opportunity.
“It’s not the shot or the shooter, it’s the decision to take that shot at that time,” Steele said. “It still would have left them with time to maybe score, which we don’t want to do. We had the ball in the lane to make that pass. We at least tried to get fouled.
“That’s what I told them. We were in the bonus; let’s get fouled to at least try to win the game at the free throw line or tie it. [Binion] took the shot. I’m not mad at her. When she first caught it, we thought it was going in. We have confidence in our girls to be able to take that shot even if I didn’t call it.”
Pannell led all scorers with 15 points and Elzy was St. Albans’ third double-figure scorer as she tallied 10.
Brooklyn Ellis was the third double-figure scorer for Spring Valley as she posted 11 points.
St. Albans plays at Parkersburg South at 7 p.m. Thursday while Spring Valley hosts Capital Thursday at 7 p.m.
