The Yellow Jackets held a 13-point advantage in the fourth period and staved off a late comeback attempt by Pendleton County Girls Basketball dropping the deficit down to three points thrice including twice under a minute remaining and it took five free throws down the stretch by Lindsey Rinker to seal a 50-44 win last Wednesday in the Hive.
“I feel sorry for our fans, that was painful to watch. We were flat from the start. No energy, no excitement in playing, like we show up to win. There is no game on our schedule that we can do that. Pendleton girls played hard. We made a few plays and shots to keep ahead. Made foul shots in fourth quarter to seal the game. It’s a win, an ugly one but it’s a win,” Moorefield Girls Basketball coach Paul Keplinger stated.
A turnover by Moorefield resulted in a 3-pointer by Pendleton County’s Ana Young closing the gap to 42-39 with 2:18 left in the game.
A timeout was taken to implore the team to wake up after watching a the double-digit lead dwindle down to a one possession contest.
Coming out of the timeout, Moorefield’s Madison McGregor drilled a jumper at the 1:52 mark for a 44-39 lead.
In about a dozen seconds later, Young was fouled during a block attempt by Moorefield’s Lexi Gilhuys and added one free throw.
Brooke Walls collected a defensive rebound for the Wildcats, but Moorefield’s Remi Hinkle stole the ball away and was chased down by Hannah Koontz fouling to prevent a potential layup forcing just one free throw made off the turnover with 1:03 to go, 45-40.
Walls grabbed the rebound off the second attempt and was immediately fouled by Yellow Jackets’ Gianna Fair and hit the rim on the one-and-one shot with Fair collecting the board.
Young swiped the ball and passed to Katie Scott, who made both free throws for Pendleton County to pull within 45-42 with 49 seconds left as Hinkle fouled out.
After a timeout, Moorefield’s Lindsey Rinker slowly brought the ball up the floor and was fouled with 36 seconds on the clock creating an opportunity at the charity stripe to complete two free throws,
Scott netted a putback with 29 seconds left to make it 47-44.
Ten seconds later, Rinker was back at the free throw line hitting one shot and Scott snatched the rebound.
McGregor stole the ball for the Yellow Jackets and passed to Rinker, who was fouled with seven seconds left adding two more foul shots to seal the victory as Pendleton County missed the final field goal.
Young scored a game-high 23 points for the Wildcats in the loss and Scott added ten markers.
Moorefield was guided by McGregor with 19 points and Rinker contributed 11 points.
“There were a lot of things that went wrong tonight, I can’t pin point just one thing. We had a couple miscues on defense, a couple transition buckets we shouldn’t have given up. Both teams played a great game and I’m proud of my girls. Hopefully we can keep that momentum moving forward,” Pendleton County Girls Basketball coach Micah Bailey noted.
In JV action, Moorefield won 49-18 with Lexi Gilhuys netting a game-high 19 points for the Yellow Jackets and Sterling Kump added 14.
Moorefield started off the varsity game missing four field goal attempts before Rinker nailed a 3-pointer at the 6:11 mark.
The Wildcats couldn’t buy a basket either as the ball ricocheted off the rim several times before Moorefield’s Gianna Fair collected a rebound.
McGregor assisted Fair on a basket in the paint giving the Yellow Jackets a 5-nil edge at 5:20.
Pendleton County’s Bandy Bowers notched a jumper on the ensuing possession.
After two errant shots and a jump ball, Moorefield’s Anna Riggleman stole the ball with assistance from McGregor with a give and take pass from Rinker back to McGregor for the score at 3:52 creating a 7-2 lead.
There were about a dozen missed field goals in the remainder of the first period as the score remained the same, despite steals by Rinker and McGregor.
The Yellow Jackets forced a turnover during a trap to start the second period which led to McGregor assisting Fair on a basket at 7:28.
Riggleman forced the Wildcats to lost the ball out of play, but Moorefield missed the next shot and Hannah Swigunski collected the rebound.
Bowers pulled down an offensive board and was fouled, then Scott netted a jumper.
Riggleman corralled a tipped ball after it hit the rim and knocked down a jumper for the Yellow Jackets.
Fair made a defensive rebound and Rinker passed to Hinkle for a layup as Moorefield took a 13-4 lead with 5:16 remaining in the second period.
Hinkle stole the ball, but tripped and fell while managing to still pass to Rinker, who connected to McGregor drawing a foul and netting one free throw.
Young completed an old-fashioned three-point play at the 4:53 mark for the Wildcats cutting the decide to 14-7.
After a jump ball, McGregor scored near the top of the key.
Young made two free throws, then Scott stole the ball and dished to Young for a layup to slice into Moorefield’s lead 16-11 at the 3:45 mark.
Riggleman added two free throws a minute later, then Scott had the ball come to a stationary position on the front of the rim before falling into the net.
Moorefield lost the ball out of bounds, then the Wildcats walked during a trap.
McGregor garnered a 3-pointer at the 2:08 mark to build a 21-14 advantage.
Pendleton County responded with a layup by Young.
After a couple free throws by Young, McGregor notched a 3-pointer ahead of the buzzer giving the Yellow Jackets a 25-18 halftime lead.
Hinkle made a layup nine seconds into the third period for Moorefield,
Both teams missed field goals, then Swigunski hit a jumper for the Wildcats at 6:33 for a 27-20 score.
Under a minute later, McGregor drilled a 3-pointer off an assist from Rinker giving the Yellow Jackets a double-digit lead.
Pendleton County’s Brooke Wall garnered two baskets in a span of 24 seconds with the latter coming off a steal and assist from Young to make it 30-24 at the 5:10 mark.[private]
McGregor made a steal and completed an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:51 remaining in the third period creating a 33-26 lead.
Fair blocked a shot, then Riggleman and McGregor collected rebounds on errant shot attempts.
Young swiped the ball before losing it out of play, then the Yellow Jackets notched a layup by Gilhuys.
Another Wildcats turnover resulted in a field goal by Rinker for a 37-26 lead entering the fourth period.
Moorefield’s largest lead of the game came at the 5:45 mark of the fourth period after a layup by Gilhuys, then the Wildcats chipped away at the deficit as much as possible before being denied in the end by the Yellow Jackets, 50-44.[/private]