Harris sets new mark for TV girls
Senior becomes Lady Bulldogs’ all-time leading scorer in loss
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The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley
Tygarts Valley's Abby Harris, left, and Abi Cabaniss (4) battle Pocahontas County's Brianna Hefner for a loose ball Tuesday night in Mill Creek. Harris became the school's all-time leading scorer in girls basketball in the setback.
MILL CREEK -- Abby Harris entered the Tygarts Valley girls basketball record books on Tuesday night.
The senior guard surpassed Andrea Saucerman as the school's all-time leading scorer in a 64-51 setback to Class A, No. 5 Pocahontas County.
Harris led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with 18 points, and now has 1,320 point in her career. Harris needed 17 points to set the mark and break the previous record of 1,318 points that was held by Andrea Saucerman.
"Abby has been our leading scorer the past three seasons," TV coach Nancy Lewis said. "She does it all for us and is a very unselfish player. We were very happy to see her break the record, she is very deserving."
Harris also had five assists and five rebounds in the contest. Abby Lanham followed Harris in the scoring column with 16 points, while Abi Cabaniss finished with eight points, five rebounds and four blocks.
Brianna Hefner had 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Warriors, who used a strong third quarter to pull past the Lady Bulldogs in the contest.
Tygarts Valley took a 29-27 lead into the intermission before Alexa Taylor's 3-point basket with 5:50 left in the third gave the visitors the lead for good at 31-29.
Pocahontas County went on to outscore the hosts 16-10 the rest of the quarter to take a 47-39 lead into the final stanza, where the Lady Warriors held a 14-12 scoring edge.
"I was very pleased with our overall effort tonight," Lewis said. "We played very well and everyone contributed. That cold spell in the third quarter really did us in and was the difference in the game. We couldn’t hit and shots during the third quarter and they (Pocahontas County) were hitting everything."
Kira Bircher and Charity Warder added 13 points each for Pocahontas County, while Taylor also reached double digits with 11 points and also dished out seven assists.
Laila Calhoun chipped in eight points, six boards and five steals, Kira Bircher chipped in six steals and Warner tallied four blocked shots.
The game was tightly contested through the first two quarters of play as the lead changed hands six times with neither squad holding more than a five-point edge. The Lady Warriors held a slim 14-13 edge after one quarter of play.
"You just can't afford to have a dry spell like we did against a team the caliber of Pocahontas County," Lewis said. "Because we did play well for the other three quarters, I'm hoping we can carry some momentum into the sectional tournament."
Tygarts Valley (11-7) will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday when it entertains Clay-Battelle in opening-round action of the Class A, Region II, Section 1 tournament.
Pocahontas County (16-2) will play host to Tucker County today.
Pocahontas County (16-2)
Brianna Hefner 5 7-10 17; Kierstin Taylor 0 2-2 2; Kira Bircher 5 2-4 13; Laila Calhoun 2 4-6 8; Alexa Taylor 4 1-2 11; Charity Warder 6 1-2 13; Totals 22 17-26 64
Tygarts Valley (11-7)
Abi Cabaniss 4 0-0 8; Courtney Haddix 1 0-0 3; Abby Lanham 6 1-4 16; Abby Harris 4 10-14 18; Claire Smith 0 2-2 2; Tatum Wamsley 2 0-0 4; Totals 17 13-20 51
Pocahontas County 13 14 20 14 -- 64
Tygarts Valley 14 15 10 12 -- 51
3-point goals: Lanham 3, Taylor 2, Haddix, Bircher