FT. GAY, WVA. — . The 18th BJM/Key Player tournament played over the weekend at Rebel Arena might have been the best one yet as the Tolsia Lady Rebels captured the Championship with two wins both coming in overtime.
2018 BJM/Key Player Shootout Champs
Tolsia 56 Cameron 52 ( OT ) Championship
The Lady Rebels ( 3-0 ) out scored the Lady Dragons ( 3-1 ) 10-6 in overtime to win the BJM/Key Player tournament for the first time since 2010.
Tolsia used a 12-3 run to erase an early deficit and go into halftime tied at 22 and then started the second half with a 11-0 out burst before Cameron went on a run to close the gap.
In the fourth quarter both teams played at a frantic pace with each taking no more then a two possession lead before overtime.
All Tournament team
MVP Sarah Jude tallied 18 points including 5 in overtime to lead the winners, Kylea Pollinger was a spark off the bench with 10 points and hit two big three pointers in the third quarter, Selena Browning had 9 points and a team high 12 rebounds, Lynndsey Cassell chipped in with 7 points, Julie Boone 5 points, Katelyn Kelly 4 points, Trinity Muncy 3 points.
THS went 13-29 at the line and hit 5 three pointers in the contest.
Cameron 12 10 6 18 6 = 52
Tolsia 13 9 17 7 10 = 56
Tolsia 51 Grace Christian 45 ( OT ) Friday
On Friday night at Rebel arena Tolsia overcame an 11 point deficit in the final period before out scoring the Lady Soldiers 9-3 in overtime.
Sarah Jude led the way for Tolsia with 19 points, Julie Boone tallied 9 points, Selena Browning 7 points, Katelyn Kelly and Lynndsey Cassell had 6 points each, Trinity Muncy and Kylea Pollinger chipped in with 2 points each.
THS went 4-6 from the charity stripe.
Grace Christian 15 5 13 9 3 = 45
Tolsia 6 12 9 15 9 = 51
Tolsia will be back in action at 6:00 on Tuesday night vs Carter Christian part of a Girl/Boy Doubleheader at Rebel Arena.
Tolsia Head Coach Ric Morrone
COACH’S COMMENTS
“… It’s special, special for the kids and special for the community. Just special to keep Mom’s memory alive. She loved athletics she committed her whole life to athletics and to academics. The money being raised for that scholarship is close to my heart as well as my family and her legacy to all of the players she has ever coached. It’s a great tournament that we haven’t won it since 2010. This is a great group of girls that played three overtime’s in two day including a Junior Varsity game against Tug Valley.”
“… Really proud of our effort the whole tourney. We were down 11 with four minutes to against Grace Christian and got it to OT and pulled out the win. Against Cameron I thought we played with a ton of intensity vs a top ten caliber team. Before I say anything else I want to send our prayers to Coach Roger Cain of Cameron who is a great friend of mine and his family is going through some stuff and he couldn’t make the trip. He runs a first class program.”
“… So proud of our girls and I want to thank everyone that helped out with the tournament Jake Arbaugh, Sean Meddings, Principal Paula Staley, I’m grateful for all the help that we get. The crowd was awesome both days. It’s great to see the boys come out and we play better. It’s not about the boys or the girls program it’s about Tolsia High school.”
“… We had so many contributors in both games from Kylea Pollinger, Elizabeth Johnson, Trinity Muncy off the bench but it all starts with our leader Sarah Jude who looked like Rocky Balboa after taking a nasty shot to the eye. ( ended up with 11 stitches ) She was great in both games and makes us go. We have another challenging week ahead of us but will enjoy this one right now.”
