By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON — As long as PikeView didn’t play like PikeView, River View had a chance for the sectional tournament upset.
Then the Panthers got back to playing defense, and Madison May kept going to the hoop, and PikeView righted the ship, defeating the Lady Raiders 70-45 as the Class AA, Region 3, Section 2 playoffs continued on Tuesday night at Princeton Senior High School.
With the game about 4 1/2 minutes old, River View held an 11-2 lead, with scoring from three girls. PikeView netted the next 13 points, including three consecutive field goals by May.
The Panthers never trailed again, stretching its lead to as many as 28 points in the final quarter.
“I think that we underestimated them,” May said. “It got to us. Thank goodness, we finally started making shots.”
“If we were wanted to get back into the game and to win, I knew I just had to score for the team.”
PikeView head coach Karen Miller said, “We just couldn’t get any rhythm. Finally, once we were able to start pressing and get some steals ... next thing you knew it was tied up.”
“We stress defense, anyway, so it just gave them confidence that we can get the steal and we can score off of it — that something good would happen.”
Freshman guard Ashley Scott said, “It was amazing. It always gets exciting when we start getting steals, and putbacks and layups.”
River View head coach Gehrig Justice said, “We called two timeouts to try to get them collected, but ... once we got them calmed down, it was too little, too late.”
“I don’t think it was as much what PikeView did, versus we lost faith in ourselves.”
May wound up going 15 for 22 from the floor, scoring 36 points. She also had nine rebounds, seven assists, four steals and a block.
Miller said, “She has several moves that are really hard to figure out sometimes. She’s just got natural ability. She’s a coach on the floor, because she sees so much, out there. She’s looking for other people.”
PikeView’s Scott had 15 rebounds and five steals.
“She doesn’t play like a freshman,” Miller said. “She’s grown up. I’m really proud of Ashley, the way she played.”
Justice said, “Hat’s off to PikeView. ... Our plan was to keep Madison at 20 ... and the freshman, Scott, hit a few shots.”
River View’s 1,000-point scorer, junior Katie Dobbs, scored 16 points and collected eight rebounds, adding to her 1,000-plus boards.
“She’s a great player,” May said. “She’s really tough, and she can really rebound. So we knew we had to really double-team her, and be strong inside.”
After being on the receiving end of a drive by Dobbs, May said she told her teammates, “I took that charge. I said, ‘I’ll never take that charge again!’ ”
River View got 12 points and six rebounds from Kirsten Roberts and 11 points and three steals from Paige Cooper.
Justice said, “We’re two players down. We lost Becka Christian back over Christmas, then Bianca Blankenship was our sixth (girl); she’s got shin splints and she’s been out the last little bit. Our girls played hard, they’re just learning in the process.”
“The fourth quarter, we gassed. We were going to play some man to man, but because we’re just so limited in numbers due to injuries, we just gassed and PikeView stretched it out.”
PikeView plays Bluefield on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the sectional championship, which will also take place on the Ralph Ball Court at PSHS.
Miller said, “We’ve got to play really smart. Tony (Mallamaci, Bluefield coach) has got his players playing really good. His five starters, they all can be in double figures. Then he’s got a couple of other girls come off the bench and contribute.”
Both of Thursday’s finalists will move on to next week’s Region 3 co-finals. The sectional champions selected on Thursday land a big prize in home court advantage — the champs host the regional co-finals. The runners-up have to travel to the hometown of the other section’s champion.
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com

At Princeton Senior High School
RIVER VIEW
Kiersten Roberts 5 0-0 12, Emily Golden 0 0-2 0, Paige Cooper 4 0-0 11, Lakyn Lambert 0 0-2 0, Lindsay Meade 3 0-0 6, Kaitlyn Dobbs 5 6-8 16. Totals 17 6-12 45.
PIKEVIEW
Brittany Moore 4 1-2 9, Madison May 15 6-10 36, Ashley Scott 6 0-0 15, Sarah Robinson 1 0-0 2, Sparrow Void 1 0-0 2, Kaleigh Peyton 2 0-0 4, Ashleigh Sparks 1 0-0 2. Totals 30 7-12 70.
River View.................13 9 13 10 — 45
PikeView...................17 26 11 16 — 70
3-point goals — RV 5 (Roberts 2, Cooper 3); PV 3 (Scott 3).