West Union junior Olivia Lewis led the Lady Dragons with 14 points in their sectional tournament loss to Eastern Brown on February 12. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Coach Jacob Stout and the West Union Lady Dragons opened up Division III sectional tournament play on Monday, February 12 with the opportunity to accomplish something that a West Union girls squad hadn’t done for many years, that being the chance to defeat the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors.
The #27 seeded Lady Dragons traveled to Eastern Brown to face the #22 seeded Lady Warriors and with the home team struggling through a tough season, it was a golden opportunity for the visitors to pull off a tournament upset. With four minutes left in the game it looked like a possibility as an Ashlah Staten basket gave West Union its first and only lead of the game but the Lady Dragons did not score for the remainder of the game while the Lady Warriors ended the game on a 7-0 run to advance with the 32-26 victory.
“As a team, we got into a big hole in the first half,” said Coach Stout. “We played much better in the second half and made it a game but turnovers and missed shots late cost us.”
That slow start mentioned by Coach Stout was the Lady warriors scoring the game’s first nine points, putting the Lady Dragons in that early hole. West Union went scoreless until there were just six seconds remaining in the opening period when they broke the ice with an Olivia Lewis three-pointer, leaving Eastern up 9-3 after one.
The Lady warriors extended their lead to double digits with four free throws early in the second quarter, before a basket by Madison Stout cut the West Union deficit to 13-5. With a 5-0 run, the Lady Warriors pushed their lead out to 18-5 before the Lady Dragons closed the first half on a 6-2 run, all of the points coming on two more Lewis three-balls and at the intermission, the Eastern lead stood at 20-11.
As the second half began, the Lady Dragons continued to slice into the Eastern lead, with the fourth three-pointer of the game by Lewis making it 20-15. The Lady Warriors got two free throws from Emma Belmont, but West Union answered with five straight, three from Staten and charity tosses from Lewis and Annabelle McIntosh and with 19 seconds left in the third quarter, the Lady Dragons had closed to within a point at 22-21. The stanza ended with Eastern’s Emma Litzinger drilling a three-ball and the two teams went to the final eight minutes with the home team nursing a four-point advantage.
To open the final stanza, the Lady Dragons got an old-fashioned three-point play from Staten on their first possession to again cut the Eastern lead to one, but neither team could dent the scoreboard over the next four minutes, Finally, with four minutes left in the game, Staten made a steal at halfcourt, drove and scored to give West Union the lead for the first time at 26-25. Unfortunately for the visitors and their upset attempt, that was the last time any points for the Lady Dragons would go down in the scorebook.
As Coach Stout referenced, the final four minutes for his team were plagued by costly turnovers and missed shot opportunities. The West Union lead held for nearly two minutes before Eastern’s Lilly Yuppa drained a corner three to put the home team up 28-26. That slim lead for the Lady Warriors stayed at two points until there were just 26.4 seconds left when a Yuppa free throw increased the Eastern lead to three. On their next trip the Lady Dragons misfired on two three-point attempts and were forced to foul with Eastern’s Jenna Mobley hitting one of two from the stripe with seven seconds to go that made it 30-26. The final West Union possession ended with Litzinger making a steal and hitting a layup at the buzzer for the 32-26 Eastern triumph.
In their season-ending loss, the Lady Dragons were led by 14 points from junior Olivia Lewis, a total that included a quartet of three-point goals. Point guard Ashlah Staten scored 8 points, all coming in the second half. West Union shot just 17% from the field as they closed their season with an overall record of 5-16.
Eastern Brown was led by 11 points from Lilly Yuppa with Emma Litzinger adding 9. The Lady Warriors moved on to a Division III sectional final on February 15 where they fell to #3 seeded Portsmouth West 40-14 to end their season at 9-14.
“This season was a fun experience for all of us,” said Coach Stout of his first year at the helm of the Lady Dragons. “Of course we wish we had a better record in the regular season and different outcome in the tournament but things don’t always go as planned especially as a first-year coach and having two freshman starters. We worked on how to be a team and I think that’s very important.”
Coach Stout will have one luxury that most other coaches in the area won’t. He had no seniors on his roster meaning his whole varsity squad can return for the 2024-25 campaign.
“I can’t wait to get these girls in the gym this summer and work because I know we have the talent. We just have to work hard and if we do that we will be a fun team to watch next season.”
