Williamstown routs Ritchie County, 63-23
- Williamstown’s Quinn Bunch, who scored five points and dished out a game-high seven assists, comes away with one of her game-high nine steals during the Yellowjackets’ 63-23 victory Wednesday night versus Ritchie County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Ritchie County’s Chelsie Jeffrey looks to attack the paint as Williamstown’s Arissa Burt defends during the Yellowjacket’ 63-23 victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Williamstown’s Faith Pickens, who doubled-doubled in three quarters with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, makes a shot inside during the first quarter of the Yellowjackets’ 63-23 victory Wednesday evening versus visiting Ritchie County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Williamstown’s Makaela Bandy pokes the ball away from Ritchie County’s Elsa Law en route to a steal during the Yellowjackets’ 63-23 victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Williamstown’s Gracie Montgomery records one of her game-high three blocked shots against Ritchie County’s Abbigayl Cox during the Yellowjackets’ 63-23 victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Williamstown’s Faith Pickens, who double-doubled in three quarters with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, scores inside against the defense of Ritchie County’s Emily Bush (12) and Elsa Law (3) during the Yellowjackets’ 63-23 victory Wednesday evening. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Belpre’s Gracie Bills, right, looks to pass during a game against Waterford earlier this season at the Harry Cooper Annex. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)
- Warren’s Julian Stadelman celebrates with teammates after scoring 34 points in the Warriors’ win against rival Marietta earlier this season at Warrior Coliseum. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

Williamstown's Faith Pickens, who doubled-doubled in three quarters with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, makes a shot inside during the first quarter of the Yellowjackets' 63-23 victory Wednesday evening versus visiting Ritchie County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
WILLIAMSTOWN – Faith Pickens knocked down her first five field goals to help No. 4 Williamstown bolt out to an 11-2 cushion here Wednesday night en route to a 63-23 Little Kanawha Conference West Division Class AA showdown triumph versus No. 10 Ritchie County.
The Rebels of head man Dave McCullough held an 18-11 rebounding advantage at intermission and finished with a 33-26 edge, but the visitors had 14 turnovers in the first half and trailed 36-11 at the break.
After Pickens won the opening tip, the ‘Jackets of head man Danny Bunch ran off 38 ticks of the clock before Gracie Montgomery, who scored nine points and had a game-high three blocks, got the ball to Pickens in the paint to put the hosts ahead for good.
Anna Cosner proceeded to assist on two more Pickens’ deuces before the pivot drained a 3 for a 9-2 lead. Annabelle Haught then recorded one of her four dimes as Pickens’ make made it 11-2 at the 4:03 mark.
Elsa Law, who led the 7-3 Rebels with 11 counters, knocked down an 18-foot jumper via an Emily Bush feed, but Cosner pushed the advantage to double figures at 14-4 when she was left open atop the key and drained it.

Ritchie County’s Chelsie Jeffrey looks to attack the paint as Williamstown's Arissa Burt defends during the Yellowjacket' 63-23 victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Although Callie Smith made a foul shot for the Rebels, who take on St. Marys in their invitational tournament on Friday, Montgomery followed with a triple for a 17-5 cushion.
Rae Rupert, who joined Pickens for game-high rebounding honors with 10, got a putback to close it to 10 after one.
However, things only went from bad to worse for the Rebels as Haught opened the second with a deuce and then Quinn Bunch, who had five points as well as game-highs of seven assists and nine thefts, had a poke-away steal that led to a Cosner trifecta.
Following a Pickens putback, Smith converted to get the Rebels on the board to make it 24-9, but the ‘Jackets scored the next 12 points before Law closed out the half with the visitors facing a 36-11 hole.
“I thought we’d come out and play a little bit better than we did, but we came out and we panicked a little bit when they got up into us and their defense really got into some of our girls’ heads early on,” admitted coach McCullough, whose team shot 22.7% (10 of 44) that included missing 9 of 10 from deep. “It was 17-7, but then second quarter they started making shots and then we weren’t making shots and it just went all bad real quick.

Williamstown's Quinn Bunch, who scored five points and dished out a game-high seven assists, comes away with one of her game-high nine steals during the Yellowjackets' 63-23 victory Wednesday night versus Ritchie County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
“It’s one of those things. They are a good team and they are going to come out and play that way, but we’ve played Wayne and played them competitively, and tonight we just didn’t have it. It’s just one of those nights. We’ve been playing well the last week there, but tonight it didn’t come out very well and now we got St. Marys.”
Pickens, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter, led all scorers with 22 and added a pair of blocks.
“I thought we played real well defensively tonight,” said coach Bunch, whose program knocked down 6 of 16 from deep and 15 of 30 in the first half en route to finishing at 52.8% (28 of 53). “We did what we were supposed to do. We had to slow down Elsa and the (Chelsie) Jeffrey’s girl and I felt like we did a pretty good job.
“My guards really played some great defense up top, which made things a lot easier for down low. Then, of course, Faith was hitting early and that’s always nice. They’ve been playing well and I felt like they didn’t obviously probably play their best game tonight, but I felt like our defense had a little bit to do with that early.”
Williamstown, which won the turnover battle 24-10 and received eight points from Arissa Burt who was in foul trouble in the first, now has a week off before returning home for a pair of key challenges.

Williamstown's Makaela Bandy pokes the ball away from Ritchie County's Elsa Law en route to a steal during the Yellowjackets' 63-23 victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
“We got a couple big games next week. We got (No. 1) Wheeling Central (on Wednesday) and (No. 2) St. Marys (on Saturday) so it’s basically starting a new season for us.”
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Williamstown's Gracie Montgomery records one of her game-high three blocked shots against Ritchie County's Abbigayl Cox during the Yellowjackets' 63-23 victory Wednesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Williamstown's Faith Pickens, who double-doubled in three quarters with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, scores inside against the defense of Ritchie County's Emily Bush (12) and Elsa Law (3) during the Yellowjackets' 63-23 victory Wednesday evening. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)