The Chapmanville Lady Tigers won the Rogers Oil Tournament at Summers County High School. The Lady Tigers defeated Tug Valley, 54-35, in Friday's opening round and beat Summers County, 50-40, in the championship game on Saturday (Photo courtesy of CRHS Lady Tigers Basketball Facebook page).
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
HINTON Alaira Evans scored 20 points and Haley Fleming had 13 points to lead Class AA co-No.7 Chapmanville to a 50-40 win over No. 5 Summers County in the finals of the Rogers Oil Tournament Saturday night at Summers County High School.
Evans, who has scored 20 or more points in four of the Lady Tigers seven games this season, was named tournament MVP, but it was Fleming who was the spark the Lady Tigers needed.
With Chapmanville trailing 23-21 at halftime, the sophomore guard scored all 13 of her points in the third quarter to help the Lady Tigers outscore the Lady Bobcats 20-6 in the third quarter to take a 41-29 lead.
Evans and Fleming were two of four Lady Tigers named to the all-tournament team joining Daizi Farley and Jaiden Mahon.
“She (Haley) struggled early in the season after coming off an injury, but had tremendous floor presence here in Hinton,” Chapmanville coach Kristina Gore said. “She was in control of the game both nights and made good decisions.”
Jaycee Blair had just three points, but it was her 3 that proved to be the game winner in the third quarter that gave the Lady Tigers a 26-25 lead.
The Lady Tigers, who played without starter Chloe Thompson (illness), got contributions from their bench in both tournament games.
“Brooke Christian, Jaycee Blair and Makayla Parsons are getting better every day and more comfortable being on the floor in big moments,” Gore said. “Jaycee knocked down a huge three during our third quarter push. Brooke had some dandy passes on a few back door cuts and knocked down a jumper.”
Summers County held a slim 13-12 lead after one quarter and led by two, 23-21, at halftime.
Neither team could get into an offensive rhythm in the first half due to foul issues that plagued both squads. Two Chapmanville starters, Fleming and Mahon, and two Summers County starters, Gracie Harvey and Liv Meador, and one reserve, Cheyanne Smith had to sit for most of the first half with foul issues.
Summers County was whistled for 10 fouls in the first half, resulting in 16 free throws for Chapmanville, who made good on eight attempts, while the Lady Tigers were whistled for eight fouls.
“The game was sloppy at times in the first, we had a couple of starters on the bench with foul trouble, but we were also able to hurt them in that department as well,” Gore said. “In the third quarter we executed so well offensively in transition and in the halfcourt.”
Abby Persinger led Summers County with 11 points while Harvey scored 10 points.
“Defensively we did exactly what we wanted to do, and that was to limit the production of their two top scorers, (Gracie) Harvey finished with 10 and (Sullivan) Pivont had six,” Gore said. “We played great team ball this weekend. Not sure how many assists we had tonight just yet, but we had 18 against Tug Valley Friday night.”
Summers County, who falls to 4-1 on the year, and Chapmanville, who improved to 6-1, will meet again on Dec. 30 at Danny Godby Gymnasium.
“Really proud of this win for a lot of reasons, but the most significant one in my eyes is the growth and maturity our kids are starting to show,” Gore said. “Summers County is not an easy place to play, especially in the championship game of their tournament.”
The Lady Bobcats are back in action Tuesday night at home against Shady Spring, a team they defeated 84-46 to open the season on Dec. 6.
Chapmanville will travel to Class AAA No. 4 Wayne Tuesday night.
“In my opinion, they (Wayne) may be the best team in the state regardless of class. We are excited about the opportunity to go compete,” Gore said. “We’ll game plan this weekend, have a good day of practice on Monday, and head down there Tuesday night and do everything we can to win the ball game.”
Chapmanville 50, Summers County 40
Chapmanville (6-1)
Mahon 0 5-6 5, Evans 8 3-7 20, Farley 1 2-4 5, Fleming 6 0-0 13, Blair 1 0-0 3,
Christian 2 0-2 4. Totals: 18 10-19 50.
Summers County (4-1)
Meador 2 2-4 6, Lilly 1 5-6 7, Harvey 4 2-2 10, Persinger 5 1-4 11, Pivont 3 0-0 6.
Totals: 15 10-16 40.
Chapmanville 12 9 20 9- 50
Summers Co. 13 10 6 11- 40
3-point field goals- Chapmanville 4 (Evans, Farley, Fleming, Blair). Summers County 0.
Chapmanville 54, Tug Valley 35: Chapmanville got off to a sizzling start in Friday's opener of the Rogers Oil Tournament against Class A No. 7 Tug Valley.
The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 20-10 lead after one quarter and outscored the Lady Panthers, 14-2, in the second quarter to take a 34-12 halftime lead.
“Nice team win, the girls shared the ball very well and made good reads,” Gore said. “We missed a few chippies that we shouldn’t have, but it was nice to see the improvement with our ball security this evening.”
Daizi Farley led the way with 25 points, two shy of her season-high 27-point performance in the Lady Tigers opener against Herbert Hoover and was a perfect 8 of 8 from the field including a 7 for 7 showing from 3.
Farley, who had scored just 28 points and hit two 3's in her last four games, had the hot hand from the start scoring 24 of her 25 points in the first half, including 18 of Chapmanville's 20 in the opening quarter.
“It was great for Daizi to get back on a roll,” Gore said. “Her 3-point percentage had dropped some in the games after she went off on (Herbert) Hoover. Going 7 for 7 from deep will definitely give that a boost.”
Bailee Hall and Michelia Swan each had eight points to lead Tug Valley (1-1). The Lady Panthers got seven points from Haven Deskins and six from Kenzie Browning.
“Tug Valley is young team, but they played hard and have good length,” Gore said. “I felt they were more active on defense than some others team we faced this year, but we found more success tonight because we didn’t try to force things.”
Alaira Evans scored seven points and Haley Fleming and Riley Lucas each had six points for Chapmanville.
Chapmanville (5-1)
Mahon 2 0-0 4, Evans 3 1-1 7, Farley 8 2-3 25, Fleming 3 0-0 6, Parsons 1 0-0 2, Blair 1 0-0 2, Lucas 2 0-0 6, Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 3-4 54.
Tug Valley (1-1)
Hall 3 2-5 8, Gillman 1 0-0 2, Swan 3 2-2 8, Justice 2 0-1 4, Browning 2 1-2 6, Deskins 3 0-0 7. Totals: 14 5-10 35.
Chapmanville 20 14 12 8- 54
Tug Valley 10 2 12 11- 35
3-point field goals- Chapmanville 9 (Farley 7, Lucas 2), Tug Valley 2 (Browning, Deskins).
Pictured from left to right are members of the Rogers Oil All-Tournament team: Summers County's Liv Meador (24), Sullivan Pivont (13), Gracie Harvey (42) and Chapmanville's Jaiden Mahon (13), Haley Fleming (1), Daizi Farley (10) and tournament MVP Alaira Evans (33) (Photo courtesy of CRHS Lady Tigers Basketball Facebook page).