CHARLESTON — It all came to an end for the Logan High School girls’ basketball team on Saturday night.
The Lady Cats’ Cinderella run in the state tournament and dream season came to a close on as unranked Logan lost 58-34 to No. 6 Parkersburg South in the Class AAA state championship game at the Charleston Civic Center.
Third-seeded Parkersburg South (20-7), which advanced to the finals after knocking off Morgantown in last Friday’s state semifinals, never trailed Logan, which closed out at 17-10.
Logan, the fifth seed, had advanced to the state title game with wins over Princeton (77-66) and top-seeded Spring Valley (52-49).
The Lady Cats, though, fell short against the Patriots, which were led by Keya Bartlett, a sophomore guard, who poured in a game-high 26 points and connected on seven 3-point shots which tied a state tournament record. Her 14 made 3-point shots for the entire tournament ended up breaking the state record.
South led 14-10 after one quarter, 24-16 at the half and then opened it up in the third by outscoring the Lady Cats 20-11 to take a 44-27 advantage.
Bartlett did most of the damage as she drilled six of her 3-point shots in the second half, including three at the end of the third quarter on three straight possessions.
A 10-0 Parkersburg South run to start the fourth quarter made it 54-27 and all but put Logan away.
The Lady Cats could not find any offensive rhythm and were frustrated by South’s quick guards.
Logan also could not shake off an ice-cold shooting performance. The Lady Cats were just 13-for-49 from the field for 26.5 percent. The Patriots were a bit better as South was 21-for-59 from the floor for 35.6 percent.
Logan’s one-two punch of sophomore Shayna Gore and freshman Monica Mitchell were held to 12 and 11 points respectively.
Senior Hannah Tothe, the hero of the Lady Cats’ win over Spring Valley with her big 3-point shot, was limited to nine points.
The Lady Cats were only 2-for-13 from 3-point territory and turned the ball over 21 times.
Katelyn Byrd added 11 points for Parkersburg South.
Despite the loss coach Kevin Gertz said he was proud of his team for making it this far. Just three seasons ago, prior to Gertz’s arrival as the Lady Cats’ coach, Logan struggled to a 4-17 season.
Logan girls’ basketball has arrived and is now on the map.
They now have some hardware to take back to the school — a Class AAA state runner-up trophy — a first for the girls’ program.
“Hats off to Parkersburg South,” a gracious Coach Gertz said after the game. “They were by far the better team today. But I wouldn’t trade my kids for any team in the state. They played very hard but were tight the entire game. But I’m so proud of them because they played hard until the very end. I know they are upset and I know that they are crying but I want them to go into the locker room and look at the big trophy that we are taking back and to look at what they have achieved. I’ve said it all week, but we were 144th in the state in the Power Index three years ago. Now, we’re number two. Nobody will ever be able to take that away from them. I am so proud of these girls. It should be about them and not me.”
Gertz said South and head coach Scott Stephens had a good game plan.
“Scott may be the best coach — boys or girls — in the state,” Gertz said. “I have never played them and I haven’t watched his teams play much other than the last few days but he had heck of a game plan. He was going to take Shayna out and he was going to take Monica out. They are our two leading scorers. They did that. They have a heck of a team. I saw their record and they are so much like us. They played a heck of a schedule and Scott had them well prepared. He had his kids more prepared that I did tonight.”
Coach Stephens said his Patriots played a good game.
“We made some big shots at the beginning of the game and took a lead,” Stephens said. “You have to give them (Logan) a lot of credit. They were right there. It was still a ballgame at halftime. We came out in the second half and this girl beside me (Bartlett) was on fire. She dropped some big 3s in and it kind of snowballed from there. We were able to put some defensive pressure on them. All of our post players rebounded well and took away some of the post from Mitchell. Our run to the state tournament has been about ‘do you believe in magic’ and the three G’s — give God the glory. They bought into that. The magic was pretty special this season.”
Gore, Mitchell and Tothe were named to the Class AAA all-tournament team. The Lady Cat trio joined: Bartlett and Taryn McCutcheon of Parkersburg South; Spring Valley’s Madison Morris and Sarah Kelly; and Morgantown’s Leah Taylor.
Logan also won the Spirit Award.
Morgantown won the School Sportsmanship Award.
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Class AAA state championship game
Parkersburg South 58,
Logan 34
LOGAN (17-10)
Tothe 4-9 0-0 9, Toppings 0-1 0-0 0, Gore 5-14 1-2 12, Cline 0-3 0-0 0, Mitchell 3-12 5-6 11, Collins 0-1 0-0 0, Williamson 0-1 0-0 0, Ward 0-0 0-0 0, Napier 0-0 0-0 0, Kolovich 0-0 0-0 0, Adkins 0-2 0-0 0, Spry 0-0 0-0 0, Ka.Kirk 0-0 0-0 0, Kimler 1-3 0-0 2, Ke.Kirk 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 13-49 6-8 34.
PARKERSBURG SOUTH (20-7)
Rexroad 1-2 0-0 3, McCutcheon 4-11 0-0 9, Bartlett 9-21 1-3 26, Workman 0-5 0-0 0, Wilson 2-8 0-0 5, Cale 0-0 0-0 0, Cothern 0-0 0-0 0, Cottrell 0-0 0-0 0, Greenburg 0-0 0-0 0, Enoch 0-3 0-0 0, Byrd 4-7 3-4 11, Fallon 1-1 0-0 2, Hayton 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 21-59 6-9 58.
Logan10 6 11 7—34
Parkersburg South 14 10 20 14—58
3-Point Goals—Logan 2-13 (Tothe 1-4, Gore 1-5, Williamson 0-1, Cline 0-3), Parkersburg South 10-26 (Bartlett 7-17, Rexroad 1-1, McCutcheon 1-3, Wilson 1-3, Workman 0-1, Hayton 0-1). Fouled Out—none. Rebounds—Logan 39 (Mitchell 8), Parkersburg South 37 (Workman 7). Assists—Logan 7 (Gore 3), Parkersburg South 14 (McCutcheon 13). Total Fouls—Logan 10, Parkersburg South 10. A—4,500.
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Class AAA state semifinals
Logan 52,
Spring Valley 49
LOGAN (17-9)
Tothe 4-8 1-2 13, Toppings 1-4 1-2 3, Gore 7-19 0-0 17, Cline 1-5 1-2 4, Mitchell 6-9 0-3 12, Collins 1-1 0-0 3, Adkins 0-0 0-0 0, Ka.Kirk 0-0 0-0 0, Kimler 0-1 0-0 0, Ke.Kirk 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 3-9 52.
SPRING VALLEY (23-4)
Kelly 2-6 1-2 5, Morris 0-5 2-2 2, Heck 9-23 2-4 20, Butcher 1-2 0-0 2, Morris 5-12 5-9 15, McGraw 0-0 0-0 0, Lemmons 1-9 0-0 3, Ratcliff 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 19-62 10-17 49.
Logan14 20 9 9—52
Spring Valley 10 11 15 13—49
3-Point Goals—Logan 9-16 (Tothe 4-6, Gore 3-5, Collins 1-1, Cline 1-3, Toppings 0-1), Spring Valley 1-16 (Lemmons 1-8, Morris 0-3, Heck 0-5). Fouled Out—none. Rebounds—Logan 32 (Mitchell 10), Spring Valley 45 (Morris 11). Assists—Logan 15 (Gore 6), Spring Valley 13 (Kelly 6). Total Fouls—Logan 16, Spring Valley 11. A—na.
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Class AAA state quarterfinals
Logan 77,
Princeton 66
LOGAN (16-9)
Tothe 2-5 6-8 11, Toppings 3-3 0-0 6, Gore 12-21 9-16 36, Cline 1-2 0-0 3, Mitchell 8-13 2-5 18, Collins 0-1 1-2 1, Williamson 0-0 0-0 0, Ward 0-0 0-0 0, Napier 0-0 0-0 0, Kolovich 0-0 0-0 0, Adkins 0-0 0-0 0, Spry 0-0 0-0 0, Ka.Kirk 0-0 0-0 0, Kimler 0-0 2-2 2, Ke.Kirk 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-46 20-33 77.
PRINCETON (19-6)
Akers 6-30 4-8 17, Mullins 4-11 0-0 10, Payne 3-10 0-2 6, Preservati 6-13 0-0 17, Surface 0-4 2-2 2, Inman 4-12 2-2 12, Culicerto 0-1 0-0 0, Snow 0-0 0-0 0, Lambert 1-2 0-2 2, Hamm 0-0 0-0 0, Barker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-83 8-16 66.
Logan 19 15 20 23—77
Princeton 16 18 17 15—66
3-Point Goals—Logan 5-10 (Gore 3-5, Cline 1-2, Tothe 1-3), Princeton 10-31 (Preservati 5-10, Mullins 2-6, Inman 2-8, Akers 1-6, Lambert 0-1). Fouled Out—Akers, Mullins. Rebounds—Logan 45 (Mitchell 17), Princeton 44 (Payne 10). Assists—Logan 11 (Gore, Mitchell 3), Princeton 19 (Akers 9). Total Fouls—Logan 17, Princeton 20. A—na.
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