By: Gary Dove
WN Sports Writer
CHARLESTON – With 5:25 showing on the first quarter clock in yesterday’s

Class A West Virginia girls’ state tournament basketball opener, the River
View Lady Raiders and their faithful must have felt a sense of security when
junior Ali Morgan made the first of two free throws to give the Lady Raiders
a 7-6 advantage over Calhoun County, their initial lead of the game.
If that had in fact been the feeling, it quickly was proven to have been a false sense of
security, as the Lady Red Devils answered with 17 consecutive points that
was briefly interrupted by a Jenna Atwell trey as the Calhoun lead swelled
to 28-10 at the first chapter’s end for the Lady Devils.
A rash of River View turnovers started the Calhoun County run, given
an exclamation point by four consecutive trifectas on the way to that
aforementioned 17-0 run.
Juniors Josie Montgomery and Savannah Cunningham, who scored 24 and
23 points respectively in the contest, nailed a pair of threes to start the run.
Oddly enough, Calhoun would not connect on another trey the remainder
of the game.
The View turned the ball over nine times in the opening chapter alone, while
taking only eight shots from the floor.
The false sense of security turned nightmare continued in the second as
third seed Calhoun County concluded the half shooting 50 percent from the
field, making 18 of its 36 attempts, while continuing to take advantage of
the Lady Raider turnovers to hold a 44-19 lead at intermission.
Meanwhile River View could muster but 30 percent shooting accuracy
during the initial 16 minutes.
Possibly the most telling stat in the first half was the Lady Red Devils scored 22
of their 44 points off View turnovers.
Calhoun County outscored the Lady Raiders 31-15 in the second half to take the 75-34 victory,
while holding River View to a season low for points scored, eclipsing the
previous low of 45 points in a mid-season loss to Tug Valley..
Sophomore Joselynn Yeager contributed 16 points for the Lady Red Devils
and led them in rebounds with 13. Montgomery collected a dozen misses while senior
Kaylin Parsons grabbed 11 rebounds.
Calhoun County will face second seed Cameron tomorrow at 11:15 am in a semifinal
contest.
Sophomore Trista Lester led River View in scoring with 11 points, followed by Atwell’s
nine. Lester also paced the Lady Raiders with six rebounds.
Both teams have to be favorites to return to next year’s tourney, as Calhoun’s lone
senior was Parsons, while the Raiders have but two, Atwell and Sheridan Calhoun.
A positive from the contest is despite the size of the Lady Red Devil win, the
River View girls battled from start to finish, never giving up against Calhoun
County.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
RIVER VIEW 10 9 7 8 34
CALHOUN COUNTY 28 16 17 14 75
RIVER VIEW: Trista Lester 5 1-1 11, Marissa Stinson 0 0-0 0, Hannah Honosky 0 0-0 0, Sheridan
Calhoun 2 0-0 4, Chloe Mitchem 1 0-0 2, Brooke Fuller 0 0-0 0, Abigail Pruitt 0 0-0 0, Ali
Morgan 1 6-8 8, Jenna Atwell 2 3-4 9. Totals 11 10-13 34.
CALHOUN COUNTY: Ella Hess 3 0-0 6, Savannah Cunningham 9 3-4 23, Makayla Jones
0 0-0 0, Josie Montgomery 10 2-6 24, Jlynn Helmic 0 0-0 0,, Emily Dennison 1 0-0 2,
Trista Arnold 0 0-0 0, Madison Westfall 0 0-0 0, Kaylin Parsons 1 2-2 4, Joselynn Yeager
7 2-4 16. Totals 31 9-16 75.
THREE POINT GOALS: RV 2 (Atwell 2). CC 4 (Cunningham 2, Montgomery 2.
FIELD GOAL : RV 11-45, CC 31-71
REBOUNDS: RV 26, CC 53
TURNOVERS: RV 22, CC 12
FOULED OUT: RV Mitchem, CC None