Fort Gay, W. Va. — Tolsia Junior Mariah Finley poured in 24 points to help lead the Lady Rebels (14-10) past Sherman ( 15-8 ) in a Region 4 Section 2 semifinal game 55-40 at Rebel Arena on Tuesday night.
Tolsia got off to a slow start against the bigger Tide trailing 15-12 after one quarter. The Lady Rebels picked up the defensive pressure and led at halftime 28-26.
In the second half it was all Tolsia as they held Sherman to 14 points and pulled away for the convincing victory to advance to the Sectional and a spot in next weeks Region tournament.
Allyssa Cloud backed Finley who also had 6 assists and 6 boards with 3 huge three pointers to finished with 9 points and pulled down a team high 7 rebounds, Taylor Parsley also tallied 9 points, Sarah Jude finished with 6 points, Marlee Marcum chipped with 4 points and Tasha Nichols had 3 points and 6 boards before leaving the game with an injury.
Sherman 15 11 10 4 – 40
Tolsia 12 16 19 8 – 55
Tolsia will play Friday night vs the winner of Huntington St. Joe/Van at 7:00 site to be determined.
Tolsia Head Coach Ric Morrone
COACH’S COMMENTS
“…I thought our momentum in the second quarter really picked up, Sherman did a great job getting some easy buckets early on and just beat us down the floor, we made a couple of adjustments to slow them down.”
“…Really proud of our girls we kept hammering away and I thought right before the half we took the lead and that was huge for us.”
“…I want to really thank our crowd tonight they were amazing and really into the game, it was a difference in the outcome, we have some really gritty girls that have been through so much… total team effort.
“…Tasha getting hurt was tough and we hope it’s just a minor injury, we have been together so long and she is a battler. We have had some injuries and a couple of unfortunate situations hit our team but we are playing in regionals and that is just awesome”
Tolsia Junior Mariah Finley
“… Total team effort tonight to get the victory, when Tasha went down all of us knew we would have to step our game up.”
