Post-season is approximately two weeks away for the West Virginia high school girls’ basketball teams, leaving squads little time to work out the kinks in their games. The Paden City Lady Wildcats and Tyler Consolidated Lady Knights are no different, and continue to work towards their goals of seeing success at the end of February.

On Jan. 26 the Lady Knights took on Williamstown at home, where the Yellow Jackets ran rampant on the court, defeating the Silver, 89-54.

The Maroon and Gold jumped out to a 21-14 lead after the first and held the Silver with a tough defense throughout the first half, putting Consolidated trailing by 16 at the half, 37-21. It was all Williamstown in the second half, giving the Lady Knights the loss.

Scoring for the home team was led by sophomore Sophie Kinnard with 16 points. She also pulled down 11 boards, had six blocked shots, five steals, and two assists. Junior Torrye Cline chipped in 13 points, had seven rebounds, one steal, and two assists; Allison Wable, 11 points, nine rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals, three assists; Sydney Reed, 10 points, four rebounds, two steals, five assists; Kyrsten cline, two points, two rebounds; Emily Knowlton, Tiffany Spencer, one rebound; Sydney Yoho, two rebounds; Haleigh Smith, one rebound; and Breanna Yeater had one rebound.

The Lady Knights will see action again on Feb. 2 when they host Ritchie County at home. On Feb. 6 the team will travel to St. Marys.

The Bishop Donahue Lady Bishops outscored the Paden City Lady Wildcats 21-11 in the fourth period to gain a 51-44 victory, Jan. 24 in McMechen.

Paden City led 13-12 after one period of play, but the Lady Bishop squad took a double digit lead, but the ‘Cats doubled up the ‘Cats, 14-7 in the second period to take a 26-20 halftime lead.

The Lady Wildcats clawed their way back and had a 34-30 lead after three periods of play, before Donahue went on a 21-10 run in the fourth period to gain the nod.

The home team made half of their 22 free throws, while the Lady Wildcats connected on 16-31 freebies from the charity line.The ‘Cats Dominique Craft would tally all of her 12 points in the second half, including eight from the free throw line, while Logan Cosper knocked in a dozen points, including two from beyond the arc.

In addition, senior Amanda Heasley and freshman Hannah Stanley each tallied eight markers, while Kayla Hizer and Lynnsie Parson tacked on three and one point, respectively.

Craft and Heasley combined to grab 24 of the Eagles 28 rebounds, while Cosper handed out four assists.

Things are starting to look up for Lady Wildcat head coach Kelly Sine and his team after an excellent performance on Monday night.

Paden City 1-15 up to this point of the season took two quick wins in Monday night’s 55-22 road victory against East Richland at Ohio University Eastern. “That’s what a little confidence will do for you,” said Sine. “We’ve been looking for different players to step up, and tonight it was a freshman, Hannah ‘Spaz’ Stanley and a senior, Dominiqye Craft that sealed the deal for us. “

East Richland experienced a frightning night from the field, caused by the hounding of Craft who earned her second 10 steal game in a row, that kept thir opponents gun shy when they came her way.

The first quarter did not quite meet with the Paden City coaching staff approval, but from then on it was lights out, as the Lady ‘Cats limited East Richland to 12 points the rest of the game, including giving up three points in the third period.

Stanley led all-scorers for the second straight game scoring 21, ncluding one basket from long range, while Craft earned her second straight triple-double, scoring 16 points, hauling in 15 rebounds and making 10 steals.

Also hitting in double figues for the second straight game was Cosper with 11 points, including three baskets from beyond the arc. Lynnsie Parsons and Amanda Heasley finished all the Wildcat scoring with four and three points, respectively.

Craft recorded her first career triple-double, Jan. 27 against East Richland, scoring 10 points, grabbing 15 rebounds and making 10 steals to lead the Lady Wildcats to a 54-26 win in Bob Burton Gymnasium in the ‘Cats’ second victory this season.

Paden City leaped out to a 10-0 advantage to open the game and settled for a 16-5 first quarter lead and netted another 11 markers in the second period to send them to intermission with a 27-14 lead.

In the third period, the ‘Cats tallied a season-high 17 points, while holding East Richland to a free throw.

Assisting Craft in the scoring department was Stanley with a career-high 17 points and five rebounds, while Cosper netted 11 points that included one from beyond the arc. She also had a season-high five assists.

In addition, Hizer netted seven points, whileParsons tallied two baskets and Kayla Dahms one bucket. Heasley tallied three fee throws and pulled down 10 rebounds.

The Lady ‘Cats will prepare for OVAC play in the next week and then look to Sectionals which are scheduled to begin on Feb. 20.