CHARLESTON — West Fork girls basketball coach Nathan Wells wasn’t sure what to expect from Lamar on Thursday in the Class 3A Region 1 Tournament.
Not knowing much about the Lady Warriors, Wells was worried his team would have a flat start and not be able to score the necessary points to grab an early lead.
Wells didn’t have to worry for very long.
West Fork dominated the first half while building a 30-point advantage, invoking the mercy rule and easily taking down Lamar 68-37 in the Tiger Center.
West Fork (21-7) will play Greenland in the regional semifinals at 4 p.m. today.
In the first half, the Lady Tigers got a combined three 3-pointers from Sarah Sagely and Madeline McCorkle, who combined for 26 points. Junior post Melissa Jones led West Fork with a team-high 20 points and nine rebounds.
“We got a lot easy baskets from our press and it caused us to relax,” Wells said. “We just settled into the game and we played great. I don’t think we could have had a better start in this tournament. Hopefully, it’ll give us a lot of confidence.”
Jones got a majority of her 20 points by getting second chances inside the lane, especially in the first half when she got eight of her nine rebounds and two blocks.
The second half was much of the same for West Fork, which had a 12-1 scoring run midway through the third quarter to extend its lead to 53-19.
“Once (West Fork) got such a big lead, it was hard for us to do anything,” Lamar coach Brandon Schluterman said. “We couldn’t get any shots up and even when we did, they weren’t going in the basket. I think we were pretty nervous overall and it really showed with the way we played.”
Other than totaling six 3-pointers, the Lady Tigers made 10 of 19 foul shots to secure the mercy-rule victory.
Leading Lamar’s (19-8) offensive attack was junior Bethany Mitchell with 11 points.
Class 3A Region 1 Tournament
Girls
WEST FORK 68, LAMAR 37
Lamar 5 7 17 8 — 37
West Fork 16 23 16 13 — 68
Lamar (19-8): Mitchell 11, L. Nepivoda 7, E. Nepivoda 4, Robinson 4, Smith 3, Holben 3, Casey 2, Milloway 2, Deyoung 1.
West Fork (21-7): Jones 20, McCorkle 17, Sagely 9, Fraley 8, Franklin 7, Ferrell 3, Findall 2, Snowden 2.