By LARRY HYPES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BRUSHFORK — Two great shots were fired Monday night — one earned honors in a great individual battle and the other won the war. When the shooters had finished, Bluefield came away with a heart-stopping 52-50 triumph.
Pike View’s Madison May poured in 24 points –including 10-of-14 at the line --and notched her 1,000th career point on free throw midway through the fourth quarter, part of an incredible second half scoring flurry. The six-foot senior has 1,003 for her career.
“I knew I had to get the job done, go in and score to get us back in the game,” said May. “It’s hard to describe how great it felt to get that (1,000) because it has been my goal since the ninth grade, what I have worked hard for.
“I’d like to go on and play college ball but first we want to keep going and have a great season right through the tournament.”
On this night, the deciding factor came from Bluefield’s Alyssa Lester.
Lester drilled a base-line jumper with seven seconds left to win the game for the Lady Beavers (7-2) who have won seven of their last 8 games including two in the past three days.
“I had missed that shot several times,” she laughed. “Thank goodness, with the game on the line, I was able to nail it. That is just the greatest feeling, watching that ball hit net and go through to put us ahead at the end.”
It was a see-saw battle throughout. Bluefield raced to a 9-1 lead on Emaleigh Gallinger’s bucket with 5:08 remaining in the first quarter, threatening to blow the game open early behind Gallinger and Jia Coppola.
At that point, sharp-shooting freshman Ashley Scott went downtown twice for the Lady Panthers (4-3) and her six points ignited a PV salvo that pulled the visitors to within two points, 11-9, after one quarter of play.
May, showing the form that would burst through again in the second half, helped spark an 8-0 Panther run to shove Pike View ahead 17-11.
Coppola, who would lead Bluefield in a tremendous effort with 20 points, two blocked shots and 9 rebounds, worked with Dani Janutolo to pull the Lady Beavers to within a single point, 25-24, by halftime.
“We came out ready to play early, lost our momentum and got it back late in the game,” said Coppola. “We made it close but when we had to come through at the end we were able to do it what it took to win. This was a very big victory for us.”
Coppola shoved Bluefield ahead 26-25 with 7:28 on the third quarter clock and then assisted Janutolo’s bucket as BHS went up 28-25 on the next possession.
May single-handedly took over the final two minutes of the third period with 11 consecutive points as the Lady Panthers grabbed a 40-33 advantage over the cold-shooting Bluefield ladies.
Pike View coach Karen Miller said, “It was great to see Madison get her 1,000th point. She is a fine player and great young lady. I wish we could have won the game. We came so close.”
Coppola’s third quarter buzzer-beater, however, was a harbinger of things to come.
After Brianna Shrewsbury and Scott – who nailed another of her five three-point shots – scored to give Pike View a 10-point lead with 7:05 to go, Bluefield roared to life.
Lester scored, Gallinger hit a lay-up, Janutolo had a put-back bucket, and another lay-up before Janutolo’s steal and score. Janutolo scored again with an assist from Autumn Spangler, tying the score at 48-all with 2:50 to go.
Gallinger fouled out on the next possession and Abby Kitts came in for Bluefield, making a pair of key plays in the closing chapter to help with the comeback.
Spangler fired in a jumper from the free throw line and Bluefield went ahead for the first time since the opening minutes but May stole the ball and scored again to knot the score at 50-50 with :20 left.
Lester, at the other end, set up from the right side, put the shot right through and the Lady Beavers felt all right seconds later with their hard-earned triumph.
Scott popped in 19 points for Pike View, part of the 1-2 punch that dominated for the Lady Panthers.
Janutolo added 12 for Bluefield and Spangler scored nine. Lester added five including the all-important deuce at the end.
“This was a repeat of Saturday night when we beat Robert C. Byrd with a late rally after the game had been so close,” said BHS coach Tony Mallamaci. “We missed a lot of lay-ups, had turnovers but pulled through when we had to. Once we find our consistency, we can be a good ball club.
“I’m real happy to win. Alyssa made the shot we needed. Jia and Dani, Autumn, Abby, they all contributed for us.”
PikeView’s Sparrow Void and Kaleigh Peyton had 11 and 10 rebounds respectively.
Pike View hosts James Monroe January 5 while Bluefield plays next Monday at Greenbrier East against Hedgesville in a 2:45 afternoon start.

At Brushfork Armory
PIKEVIEW
Madison May 24, Ashley Scott 19, Brianna Shrewsbury 3, Sarah Robinson 2, Kaleigh Peyton 2.
BLUEFIELD
Autumn Spangler 9, Jia Coppola 20, Alyssa Lester 5, Abby Atwell 2, Dani Janutolo 12, Emaleigh Gallinger 4
Pike View........................9 16 15 10 — 50
Bluefield........................11 13 11 17 — 52
3-point goals – PV 5 (Scott 5). Fouled out – B, Gallinger.