Lady Tornado work hard in 53-34 victory over Mountain Ridge

KEYSER, W.Va. (WV News) – After a slow start, Keyser kicked things into high gear, developed a lead, and then kept Mountain Ridge at arms-length the rest of the way. The end result was a 19-point, 53-34 victory for the homestanding Lady Tornado.

With the win, Keyser moves to 11-3 on the season in advance of a Friday, Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m. matchup at home against Hampshire.

“Credit to our team. We battled hard, they didn’t make it easy on us, and while a 19-point win seems comfortable, we worked hard, we worked really hard,” Keyser coach Josh Blowe stated. I give all our girls credit. Defensively, to hold them to 14 points in the first half was excellent. We played assignment basketball tonight.”

According to Blowe, “On Saturday, that was not the case. So, it was great to see us come back with a great practice, and then come into tonight focused and execute the game plan. It was good to see from a coaching staff’s perspective.”

Keyser was led in double figures by Bibs Felton with 22 points, Autumn Kerchner with 14 points, and Austyn Healy with 10 points. Next was Carlee Staggs and Abby Del Signore with two points each, and Rooney Urice, Kiya Kesner, and Ainsley Friend with one point apiece.

“Austyn was our spark off the bench tonight, not just tonight, this whole season. She’s playing with a lot of confidence tonight. She’s someone that puts a lot of time in on her own, which is where it’s at. Where you really see improvement is when you’re putting time in on your own, and she does that,” Blowe noted.

According to Blowe, “Autumn, it was good to see her get that double-double tonight. She had 14 points ana 11 rebounds. Bibs was strong with a double-double as well. She had 22 points and 12 rebounds. That’s back-to-back doubles for Bibs, and three-straight 20 plus point games.”

“We have a lot of girls that can score the basketball in many, many ways, and that makes us a tough team to defend,” Blowe stated.

In the loss, Mountain Ridge was led in double figures by Kealana Pua’auli with 11 points. Next was Makayla Ziler with eight points, Reese Carter, Allie Tringler, and Riley Sheppard with four points apiece, Carolyn Hughes with two points, and Taylor Lamberson with one point.

It took a few minutes for Keyser to get going as the Lady Tornado found themselves trailing 5-1 before going on a 10-0 run to take an 11-5 lead, a lead that would be cut to 11-7 at the periods end. In the second period, Keyser blew things wide open, outscoring the Lady Miners 15-7 to take a 12-point, 26-14 lead into halftime.

A 15-12 third period advantage for the Lady Tornado led to Keyser holding a 15-point, 41-26 lead heading into the game’s final period. There, the game would end with a Keyser victory, 53-34.

“They’re a good team. It started a little rough, I think we turned the ball over in seven of our first nine possessions. That’s not something we’re accustomed to this year. On Saturday, we had six turnovers for the whole game. So having seven in that fourth quarter helped them, definitely,” Blowe stated.

According to Blowe, “We weren’t getting shots. Credit to them a little bit too, but we reverted to some mistakes we made back at the beginning of the season. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue moving forward.”

“Against Mountain Ridge, they know a lot of these girls, they play with them in the summer, so I thought the motivation was sky high tonight, and that affected out game a little bit early. But we turned it around. We always play with energy, but tonight I felt like it was at another level. And I think it was because of who they were playing, they were looking for bragging rights,” Blowe explained.