CHARLESTON -- Payton Tennison went up and blocked a West Fork shot, then gathered the ball and drove the length of the court for an easy layup.
Tennison and fellow sophomore Emmalee Taylor combined for 34 points and Valley View rolled past West Fork 47-30 in the Class 3A State Girls Basketball Tournament in Friday's first-round action.
Girls
VALLEY SPRINGS 47, WEST FORK 30
West Fork^9^6^11^4^—^30
Valley Springs^8^10^14^15^—^47
West Fork (14-13): Griffin 10, Hays 8, Karnes 7, Selph 3, Smith 2.
Valley Springs (34-3): P. Taylor 21, Tennison 13, Harner 8, King 3, A. Taylor 2.
Boys
RIVERCREST 73, WEST FORK 66
West Fork^13^21^10^22^—^66
Rivercrest^18^16^16^23^—^73
West Fork (17-9): Bailey 17, Clayton 16, W. Roebke 13, R. Roebke 7, Hutchison 7, Johnson 6.
Rivercrest (21-7): K. Williams 17, Chew 14, Lane 11, Kirk 10, Harris 8, Turner 6, C. Williams 4, Allen 3.
"We put a lot of pressure on them to lead our team, offensively especially," Valley Springs coach Kimberly Wilson Jenkins said. "We moved them up last year as freshmen. They both played up, so they had a year of senior high ball. So we expected great things from them this year, and they've done a great job leading us."
Valley Springs (34-3) seized control of the game after West Fork (14-13) had pulled within one, 27-26, on a pair of free throws by Katie Griffin with 3 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Lady Tigers got a 2-pointer from Ashton Harner and a bucket and free throw from Taylor to take a 32-26 lead at the end of the third quarter. Taylor's 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter extended the lead to 35-26, and Valley Springs rolled from there.
"We just didn't knock down shots," West Fork coach Rodney Selph said. "They went to a zone and we just couldn't make shots. We got good looks, we just didn't make them."
West Fork, the No. 2 seed from Region 1, never got closer than eight points the rest of the way. Taylor backed a defender down the lane and hit a soft layup with 3:49 left that started a game-ending 10-2 run. She and Tennison combined for all 10 points.
Taylor finished with a game-high 21 points, including three 3-pointers. Tennison added 13 points.
"Emmalee really stepped up in the second half," Jenkins said. "They weren't guarding her, and I was like, 'oh let's have a field day with that.' You know, have fun with that. And she really owned being open and knocking some shots down for us."
West Fork grabbed an early lead, working inside to Karnes and Griffin. The Lady Tigers led 9-4 and 15-13, but gave up a layup at the halftime buzzer to trail 18-15. Valley Springs opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run, but West Fork again battled back as Kaden Selph hit a 3-pointer and Griffin, who led West Fork with 10 points, scored inside to cut Valley Springs' lead to 27-26.
"When you can't make shots it's tough to win," Rodney Selph said. "I'm proud of our kids. To be honest I don't think anyone gave us much of a shot to make the state tournament, much less the finals of the regionals. So we're proud of that. I thought we improved as the year went on.
"What we have to make sure is that, going to the state tournament, we don't want that just to be the highlight. We want to get here and see what we can do once we're here."
Boys
Rivercrest 73, West Fork 66
West Fork gave the Colts all they wanted in a back and forth game before Rivercrest finally prevailed.
Khalil Williams scored 17 points to lead Rivercrest (21-7). Marquez Chew added 14 and Ethan Kirk 10.
Josh Bailey lit it up in the fourth quarter for West Fork (17-9), hitting three straight 3-pointers at one point, and finished with 17 points. Dylan Clayton added 16 and sophomore William Roebke scored 13.
Sports on 03/08/2014