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St. Marys Invite

Cougars, Blue Devils grab wins first day

RON JOHNSTON, The Marietta Times Frontier’s Sammi Morris (23) drives to dribble around Parkersburg Catholic’s Madeline Huffman (31) to get to the hoop during the Cougars’ 50-40 victory over the Crusaderettes Thursday at St. Marys High School.

ST. MARYS — Tiffany Graham had the hot hand.

The 5-foot-7 junior guard scored 10 of her 15 points in the third quarter as Frontier High defeated Parkersburg Catholic, 50-40, in a St. Marys Basketball Invitational girls’ opener at SMHS Thursday night.

“I haven’t been shooting very well this year,” said Graham. “But my form came back to me, I think. It felt good.”

FHS senior Lexi Brookover added 13 points, while Sammi Morris and Kylie Daugherty chipped in with seven apiece. Nikki Haught tallied six markers and grabbed eight rebounds as did Daugherty.

Alexis Saunders led Catholic (7-4) with 18 points. Olivia Ullman netted nine.

In the nightcap of the invite, tourney host St. Marys downed Wirt County, 73-35. Jordan Fox paced the Blue Devils (7-3) with 22 points. Kylee Buzzard and Jenna Nichols chipped in with 11 apiece.

The Tigers (2-11) were led by Cori Hughes 16 points. Sarah Cunningham added eight.

The undefeated Cougars (12-0) will face St. Marys in the tournament’s championship game at 7:30 p.m. Monday at SMHS. Wirt will square off against Union (Grant) in the consolation tilt at 5:30 p.m.

“They’re not all going to be pretty,” said FHS head coach Scott Murphy of the first game. “But a win’s a win, and we’re pretty happy with that.

“Give credit to Parkersburg Catholic. They did a lot of good things. They’ve got a real nice team. They outhustled us at times, I thought. It was a pretty good battle. It was a fun basketball game.”

Sparked by Brookover’s five first-quarter points, Frontier staked itself to a 15-11 advantage. Keeping the Crusaderettes close, Ullman had five markers and Reagan Shriver four.

In the second period, each school scored just two points. Frontier’s Morris had the only field goal in the period, while PC’s Saunders and Mikayla Alkire each converted a freebie.

“That might’ve been one of the worst quarters we’ve played all year,” said Murphy, whose Cougars owned a 17-13 halftime advantage.

In the third quarter, Graham sizzled, making a deuce to start things and then followed that up with a triple to give Frontier a 22-15 lead.  Before the period ended, she scored five more points, and the Cougars had a double-digit advantage, 40-27.

“Tiffany’s been working pretty hard on her shooting,” Murphy said. “She had a really good game Monday, and she backed it up tonight. She did a lot of good things.”

Meanwhile, Saunders, who only had one point in the first half, was PC’s point producer after the break, scoring 17 of her team’s 27 points. The Crusaderettes were able to reduce the deficit to single digits in the fourth quarter.

But Brookover made four freebies down the stretch to keep Catholic at bay.

“Frontier is a really good team,” said PCHS coach Marty Vierheller. “I was really impressed with them. I liked their balance and athleticism.

“I thought our girls responded with a lot of class.”

After St. Marys scored the game’s first eight points, it never looked back. Addie Furr scored eight first-quarter points to give the Blue Devils a 15-11 lead. Hughes drained three triples to keep the Tigers close.

But in the second quarter, Fox heated up, scoring 10 points as SMHS stretched its lead to 41-18 at the intermission.

After the break, Wirt had no answer for Fox, and St. Marys won going away.

“I give (Wirt County) coach (Mike Hughes) credit with his team having a short bench and being awful young,” said SMHS boss Howie Meeks. “They just played hard.

“We played all man in the second half, just to get in a little conditioning.”

Before St. Marys play Frontier, it visits Buffalo Saturday.

“I run the youth league in Newport, so I’ve seen those (Frontier) girls since the third grade,” Meeks said. “Scottie’s done a nice job. It’ll be a lot of fun Monday night. I know the crowd’s going to be here. We’re just going to give it our best against them.”

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