WCMS takes second at state tourney: Loss to White Co. ends impressive season
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“Emotions were high coming in here,” Warren County’s head coach Monica Moore said. “It was the first chance the middle school has played in the state tournament and made it into the finals.”
The Warriors jumped out to a 17-8 first period lead. With just over a minute to play in the half, the Pioneers jumped back in it when Chris Weitzel snatched an offensive board for a putback high off the window. On the Pioneers’ ensuing possession, Weitzel cleaned up his own mess for a tip-in to cut the lead to a two possession ballgame 20-14. But in the final seconds of the half, the Pioneers traded a pair of deuces for a single free throw to go down 24-15 at the break.
“Turnovers killed us, and the last time we played (White County) we had a hard time hanging on to the basketball,” Moore said. “There’s no doubt in my mind we could have won, but we didn’t take care of the basketball the way we should have.”
White County’s press blanketed Warren County’s guards as they tried to bring the ball up court. The result was numerous turnovers that ended in transition buckets for the Warriors.
“It was a fast paced game and there were a lot of turnovers,” Kyle Mullican said. “They pressed us the entire game and that’s where the turnovers came from. When they turned it over, we would get the steal but couldn’t turn it into any points.”
In the third stanza, Warren county got within seven when Josh Moore buried a trey from the perimeter, followed by a defensive board from Justin Bouldin who took the rock coast-to-coast for the kiss off the glass.
“We were 15 points down at one time and they fought to get it back within seven,” Moore said. “I thought there at the end that we were going to get into it. “We would do something good on offense but we would come back down on defense and give up a basket.”
Despite the losing effort, Saturday’s loss will never overshadow what Moore’s youngsters accomplished on the season.
“They’ve come a long way and we had a great season,” Moore commented. “These boys have always found a win and I’m proud of them.”
Bouldin paced the Pioneers with 12 points while Weitzel chipped in with 11. Moore and Kyle Mullican had six each, with Lane McCoy adding one point.