Hurricane, W. Va. — Tolsia ( 13-10 ) opened up postseason play with a 60-31 victory over Sherman ( 8-15 ) Saturday afternoon in the Girls Region 4 Section 2 first round game at Hurricane High School.
Both teams struggled from the field in the first half with the Lady Rebels missing from close range but collected a ton of offensive rebounds and led 25-7 at halftime.
In the third quarter Tolsia found some rhythm on offense and exploded for 24 points to put the game out of reach out scoring the Tide by 12 points and led 49-19 going to the final stanza.
Ten different Lady Rebels cracked the scoring column led by Katie Marcum and Julie Boone with 15 and 13 points respectively, Kylea Pollinger 9 points, Autumn Block 7 points, Kerigan Salmons 5 points, Trinity Muncy 3 points, Taylor Ball, Lyndsie Wilson, Selena Browning and Elizabeth Johnson scored 2 points each.
The Lady Rebels hit 2 three pointers and went 8 of 16 from the charity stripe.
Hailee Skeens led the Tide with 16 points, Kenzie Ferrell 7 points, Annika Roop 3 points, Jayden Hawkins and Zoey Steele 2 points each.
Sherman hit 2 three pointers and went 10 of 14 from the foul line.
The Lady Rebels will face rival Tug Valley ( 17-6 ) the #2 seed Tonight at 8:00 in the semifinals after the Lady Panthers beat Hannan 93-34 in the last game Saturday.
#5 Buffalo beat #4 Van 50-48 in the first game of the day. The Lady Bison will face the #1 team in the state and nationally ranked Huntington St. Joe ( 19-1 ) in the first semifinal game Tuesday at 6:00.
Championship game is Thursday at 7:00.
All games at Hurricane High School.
Tolsia Head Coach Ric Morrone
COACH’S COMMENTS
“… It was a little bit weird because it felt like a practice, You don’t really expect that kind of thing in a sectional tournament and it affected both teams I think. It was a tough first quarter for us offensively, we missed a bunch of easy shots. We played hard early but just couldn’t finish. I thought in the second half we started to become a little more efficient on offense, We know that every step forward from here on out is going to take a better effort.”
