By DAN STILLWELL
for the Daily Telegraph
CHARLESTON — Summers County wasn’t going to let Sissonville use its transition game.
Nor would the Lady Indians be allowed to take the ball off the dribble to the glass.
The Lady Bobcats were willing to let Sissonville go to its other strength — outside shooting — and take their chances.
Wayne Ryan’s strategy worked like a charm for 31 minutes and 59 seconds, when all-stater Madison Jones found herself open and hit a 17-footer from the corner to give the Lady Indians a 47-45 victory in the Class AA quarterfinals at the Charleston Civic Center.
“A pretty good game with pretty good teams and lots of good players,” Ryan said. “It’s joyful when you win, but it hurts to lose.
No. 5 Summers (22-3) battled No. 4 and defending state champion Sisssonville (24-2) tooth and nail, and the game was tied at 45 when freshman guard Laila Arthur stole the ball in the lane with 55 seconds remaining.
The Lady Indians worked down to 13.7 seconds and called time out. The ball was inbounded to Jones, who dribbled left. Meanwhile, Sissonville’s other All-Stater, Karli Pinkerton, cut into the paint and went right.
Summers defense — in fact, almost everybody on both teams — followed her, and the shot just before the buzzer was wide open and nothing but net.
Jones was just 4 of 18 from the floor, but didn’t hesitate to take the shot.
“It wasn’t in my head (that she was having a bad shooting game). That’s probably why I shot it,” she said. “I thought I was shooting pretty good. I kept my confidence. When it came off my hands, I could tell it was going in.”
Coach Rich Skeens said, “I was thinking of calling (another) time out. Thank goodness I didn’t it.”
The shot ended a game that was close throughout. Sissonville led the first quarter 16-12 and the third quarter 38-35. Summers had been up 26-23 at halftime.
Sissonville did not score a single fast break, and only 12 points, compared to 24 for Summers, in the paint.
“We did a great job on a dynamic offensive team all night long,” Ryan said. “After that time out we wanted to play defense like had all night. We’d done a real good job keeping them out of the lane. We didn’t get switched off (on Jones’ shot).”
Summers All-Stater Brittney Justice was the game’s high scorer with 18 points. Morgan Miller added 10, while Hannah Taylor had nine and Whittney Justice notched eight. Tiffani Cline and both Justices had seven rebounds.
Pinkerton led Sissonville with 14 points, followed by Jones with 13 and Arthur with nine. Brooke Reed was the game’s top rebounder with 10.
The Lady Indians held a 37-35 edge in rebounding.
“If we’d rebounded better, we would have won the game,” Ryan said.
“Sissonville is real good. But here’s the deal: We are too. We’re capable of beating anybody in the tournament.
“We’re hurting a little bit, but we’re proud of our players.”
Sissonville will play Wyoming East at 1 p.m. Friday in the AA semifinals.

Summers County (23-4)
Hannah Taylor, 3 3-6 9, Morgan Miller, 4 0-0 10, Brittney Justice, 6 5-6 18, Whittney Justice 4 0-0 8. Totals: 17 8-12 45.
Sissonville (25-2)
Brooke Reed 2 0-0 4, Karli Pinkterton 5 4-6 14, Madison Jones 5 0-0 13, Mikayla Long 1 0-0 3, Laila Arthur 3 0-0 9, Marleigh Bays 2 0-0 4. Totals: 18 4-6 47.
SC: 12 14 9 10 — 45
S: 16 7 15 9 — 47
3-point goals: SC: 3 (Miller 2, B. Justice); S: 7 (Jones 3, Long, Arthur 3). Fouled out: None.