Girls Basketball - State Championships: ; No. 5 for Summers County

Sunday Gazette-Mail › March 14, 2011

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Summary

Scotts Makenzie White would probably have gladly switched places with David during Saturday afternoons Class AA state championship game at the Charleston Civic Center because David only had one giant to slay. Summers County goes much deeper than that. All five starters for the No. 1 Bobcats scored nine points or more as the team completed its run at even more state history, becoming the first team to win five straight state titles after an 86-41 win over the Skyhawks. But Summers had to overcome quite a performance by White to notch its 96th straight win. Its a little hard for me to talk right now because inside I know what a special group of kids we have and I know what theyve accomplished, said Summers County Coach Wayne Ryan. For some of them, this is the last game in our program. Theyve certainly made me a good basketball coach and have done some amazing things for our program to set us apart in history. Im very proud of the way they performed today. The game often boiled down to one-on-five and, White not only lived up to the billing, but surpassed it. She kept her young team in the game as long as she could, scoring 23 of the Skyhawks 25 first-half points and ended up with 32, all while barking at her teammates and trying to point them to the right spot on the floor. Scotts next leading scorer was Lou Robin with four points. The score was knotted at 13 after the first quarter and Summers Countys Hallie and Hanna Gunnoe both found themselves in foul trouble in the first half. But in signature fashion the Bobcats went on big spurts, starting the second quarter on a 14-0 run and ending the third quarter on a 28-6 run to blow the game wide open. White played like a Ferrari for Scott but looked like a beat-up battle tank, sporting a wrapped-up left ankle, several bandaged fingers and enough bumps and bruises to make members of the Scott football team take notice. Its probably public knowledge by now but Kenzie is probably going about 70 percent with that ankle injury, Scott coach John Porter said. She was on a mission today. We thought about slowing her down, but what the heck, she was making some stuff happen. If we could have gotten a couple contributions from some other kids we could have made a better game of it. But the job she did, Im so impressed with the bad wheel that she had. I felt better than I did [Friday] but it was still painful to play on, White said. I wasnt going to not play in the state finals. I just did my thing, just went with it. I dont know how to explain it, I was trying to keep us in the ball game. I just tried to push the ball and play defense. I got the ball and pushed it. I got a lot of layup opportunities and converted. In a game that may ultimately help define Summers record-setting group of seniors, it was the play of junior Candace Brown that stood out on Saturday. Brown, who guarded White most of the game, narrowly missed a quadruple-double, recording 27 points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals, eight assists and four blocks. We had two starters in foul trouble so knew I had to step up, Brown said. Through it all, White and Brown seemed to revel in the physicality of the game, highlighted by one sequence in which Brown ended up lying on top of White, pinning Whites left arm to the ground like a collegiate wrestler as both players fought for the ball. But as the players untangled from their human pretzel position, both were laughing. White, always the ultimate competitor, seemed torn over her thoughts about Summers. I want to beat them, I wanted to beat them so bad, White said. I didnt care if it was on a buzzer shot from other side of court, I just wanted to beat them. Losing to them, I hate it. I have utmost respect for every person on that team. You cant down them, theyre all good. Leslie Mack overcame some early shooting woes to finish with 21 points and seven rebounds for Summers (28-0) while Hannah Gunnoe chipped in 10 points and Hallie Gunnoe and Kelsie Lively had nine points each. Mack, both Gunnoe sisters and Brown were all named to the all-tournament team, as were White and teammate Allison Whitman. The Gunnoes, Mack and Lively all played their last high school game on Saturday, and Ryan said it is a class that may never be matched. Weve been very blessed to have a lot of good basketball players in Summers County history, Ryan said. Weve had some really good classes, but I dont think you will have one the caliber of these four seniors in a town this small again. Were blessed to have them. These four seniors are special. As for the Skyhawks (18-9), Porter believes his team was in a way playing with house money in its second consecutive state finals appearance, as six freshmen played in the game, including two starters in Whitman and Jaimee Dotson. In December we had Kristin [Stevens], Makenzie and a middle school team, basically, Porter said. If you would have told me we would go to state tournament in March I would have said you were out of your mind. But in the past six or seven games, three or four weeks, we really put it together. Scott will lose only two players and returns White as well, making the Skyhawks a contender to be right back in the finals again. But Ryan and Brown arent so convinced the path to Class AA supremacy doesnt still run through Hinton. I think well be in the mix, well have a solid basketball team and it will take a good team to beat us, Ryan said. Obviously Im going miss all of [the seniors], Brown said. But we have a lot of girls coming back and I hope everyone works hard and well definitely have a chance next year. With Brown as the new leader, the drive for six has officially begun. * Summers 96-game win streak still has a ways to go before approaching the national record for consecutive wins, which stands at 218 and was set by Baskin, La., from 1947-53. Monetta, S.C., is second with 154 straight wins from 1933-40, followed by 134 in a row by Duncanville, Texas (1987-91), and Taylor County of Butler, Ga. (1968-72).

Summers County 86, Scott 41 Scott (18-9) Player FG FT R A P Makenzie White 11-34 6-11 10 3 32 Jaimee Dotson 0-4 1-2 2 1 1 Ali Whitman 0-5 2-4 14 0 2 Kristin Stevens 1-3 0-1 2 2 2 Lou Robin 2-3 0-0 1 0 4 Breanna Linville 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Starla Aldridge 0-1 0-0 3 0 0 Julie Conway 0-1 0-1 3 1 0 Taylor Adkins 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 Courtney Goodwin 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Jessy Blankenship 0- 1 0-0 0 0 0 Team 7 Totals 14-53 9-19 43 7 41

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Girls Basketball - State Championships: ; No. 5 for Summers County

Summers County (28-0) Player FG FT R A P Leslie Mack 8-20...

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