Jaiden Mahon scored a game-high 21 points as the Lady Tigers of Chapmanville Regional High School withstood a second-half comeback bid by Class AA No. 7 Mingo Central to pull off a 60-56 road upset of the Lady Miners Thursday night on Miner Mountain.
Mahon, one of three Lady Tigers in double figures, was 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
“Jaiden had the hot hand for us tonight and we did a good job of finding her and making the extra pass,” Chapmanville coach Kristina Gore said. “Daizi (Farley) passed up one or two she could have shot because she knew Jaiden was feeling it.”
“That’s what makes our team special,” Gore said. “Our girls take “We Over Me” mantra to heart and play unselfish basketball.”
It was the third victory over a ranked West Virginia opponent this season for the Lady Tigers, but the first on the road.
Chapmanville knocked off Class AAA No. 10 Winfield, 55-49, on Dec. 30 and this past Saturday the Lady Tigers knocked off Class AA No. 6 Summers County, 55-39.
The Lady Tigers led by 11 at halftime but had to hold a second half rally from the Lady Miners.
“It was great to get off the mountain with the win, but we really made it hard on ourselves in the second half,” Gore said. “We lost focus on finding our matchups defensively and were careless with the basketball.”
The first quarter ended in a deadlock as both teams scored 11 points, but Chapmanville took control in the second quarter outscoring Mingo Central 16-5 to take a 27-16 into the locker room at halftime.
The second half belonged to Mingo Central as the Lady Miners outscored Chapmanville 19-15 in the third quarter to trail 42-35 after three quarters and outscored the Lady Tigers 21-18 in the fourth quarter, however, the 11-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome in the end.
“We had a great second quarter defensively,” Gore said. “We executed the game plan well and really had them on the ropes.”
“We went to the locker room up by 11 and had a chance to keep our foot on the gas,” Gore said. “We lost our focus and lost our composure a little bit, but at the end of the day, a win is a win and boy was it a big one.”
Maddie Smith led four Lady Miners in double figures with 16 points. Bella Hall added 15 points and Megan Adkins and Madisyn Curry had 10 each for the Lady Miners.
Smith scored 12 of her 16 in the fourth quarter but struggled to shoot the ball from the outside as she was 5-of-20 from the field and 1-of-10 from 3-point range.
“As most teams do, they went box-and-one,” Davis-Smith said. “It wasn’t our best effort, and I knew tonight would be tough.”
Mingo Central was 22-of-58 from the field, 3-14 from 3 and 9-17 from the foul line.
Claire Dingess had 14 points and Hayley Fleming 12 for the Lady Tigers, who shot 19-of-33 from the field, was 6-of-9 from 3 and 16-of-26 from the free throw line.
Chapmanville connected on 9-of-15 attempts in the first half and was 5-of-7 from 3-point range while Mingo Central just 7-of-24 from the field and 2-of-8 from 3 in the first half.
“The key for us right now is to continue to take it one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves,” Gore said. “Our goal is to keep battling and keep improving.”
“We have long way to go to get to where we want to be, but we are moving in the right direction,” Gore said.
Chapmanville improved to 2-0 against Class AA Region 4 competition and 1-0 against sectional competition. The Lady Tigers do not face Bluefield nor reigning Class AA champion and No. 2 Wyoming East from Section 1 this season.
Chapmanville was scheduled to host Liberty (Raleigh) to open the season, but that contest was postponed and has yet to be rescheduled. The Lady Tigers will host Mingo Central on Jan. 29.
With 11 games left in the regular season, the Lady Tigers appear to have the inside track on homecourt advantage and the top seed in the section.
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but if the coaches take into consideration the conference we play in and the win over Summers County along with this one, then I would think it us an advantage,” Gore said. “The bottom line is we need to finish the regular season strong, and we will see Mingo again in less than 10 days.”
A win by Chapmanville in the rematch could wrap up the top seed in the Class AA Region 4 Section 2 tournament.
“I know they will prepare hard and come town to give us their best shot,” Gore said. “If we want to make the best case for number one then we need to do our job and win that one when it rolls around.”
Mingo Central drops to 8-4 with the loss and will host Wyoming East on Tuesday.
Chapmanville improves to 5-6 and will travel to Scott for a Cardinal Conference showdown with the Lady Skyhawks. Gore said the Lady Tigers can ill afford a letdown and can’t overlook Scott, who is just 1-8 this season.
“Scott is a young team like us, and Coach Harper is doing a great job,” Gore said. “They have improved as the year goes along and they play hard and play with a lot of energy.”
“I know they will be up for us, and they are definitely not a team to overlook,” Gore said. “We will gameplan tonight and tomorrow and do our best to execute.”
Chapmanville 60, Mingo Central 56
Chapmanville Lady Tigers (5-6)
Hayley Fleming 2-5 7-10 12, Daizi Farley 1-2 1-2 3, Jaiden Mahon 7-11 3-6 21, Chloe Thompson 4-4 0-0 8, Claire Dingess 4-5 5-8 14, Brooke Christian 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 19-33 16-26 60.
Mingo Central Lady Miners (8-4)
Alyssa Davis 0-3 1-6 1, Megan Adkins 4-11 0-0 10, DaLaney Grimmett 2-4 0-0 4, Bell Hall 7-9 1-1 15, Madisyn Curry 4-11 2-4 10, Addie Smith 5-20 5-6 16. Totals: 22-58 9-17 56.
CRHS 11 16 15 18- 60
MC 11 5 19 21- 56
3-point field goals- Chapmanville 6-9 (Fleming 1-1, Farley 0-1, Mahon 4-6, Dingess 1-1), Mingo Central 3-14 (Adkins 2-3, Curry 0-1, Smith 1-10). Rebounds- Chapmanville 31 (Mahon 8), Mingo Central 26 (Davis 8). Assists- Chapmanville 10 (Fleming 3), Mingo Central 14 (Smith 6). Total fouls- Chapmanville 12, Mingo Central 17. Fouled out-None. Technicals-None.
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