By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
The Vikings Girls Basketball team set sail with a 19-nil advantage and forced 36 turnovers to keep the tempo wind blowing fast to cruise for a 92-14 victory over East Hardy
during the season opener in Petersburg.
Petersburg’s Miley Tingler led six teammates in double figures with 20 points, followed by Ayden Mayfield with 15 points, Shyane Tawney with 12 points, Abigail Nettles with 11
points, Ella Markwell and Addie Day notched 10 points apiece. East Hardy was paced by Adyson Crider with five points, followed by Jaiden Gordon
with four points, Chloe Gue with three points and Samantha Gordon contributed two points.
“I thought our defense did a good job of speeding up the offense and making them take some rushed shots. We rushed their passes and made them uncomfortable which led to us having some easy baskets in transition. It helped us jump start the offense. I thought once we made our first few, the ball started moving a lot better offensively. I really liked how we shot the
ball with confidence as the game went on. This is the highest we have scored in a few years. We struggled a little offensively last year, so this is a good way to start the season,” Petersburg
coach Jon Webster commented.
The Vikings (1-0) missed their first two shot attempts and Crider snatched the rebound, but the Cougars (0-2) failed to connect either and Quenlynn “Sis” Cole collected the carom
leading to a layup from Mayfield to commence the scoring.
The Cougars found the rim twice more sandwiching a defensive board by Crider. Markwell and Tingler netted consecutive Vikings field goals within 30 seconds for a 6-0 lead
two minutes into the contest.
After errant free throws by the Cougars, Petersburg hit the rim twice before a jump ball on a rebound by Tingler, then a wild pass was saved by Mayfield along the baseline with an
overhead throw which would be intercepted by East Hardy’s Chloe Gue before a travel call.
Tingler nailed a jumper to extent the Vikings lead and timeout was called at 5:10. Both teams committed turnover twice over the ensuing minute with the Cougars hitting the rim twice and Petersburg adding to the lead on a steal and breakaway layup by Tingler at East Hardy lost the ball back over the mid-court line, then Petersburg’s Tawney knocked down a perimeter bucket and Cole swiped the ball leading to a pair of free throws by
Tawney for a 15-0 lead. Markwell stole the ball and fed Cole for a basket, then Day hauled in a defensive rebound and dished to Tingler for a jumper to take the 19-0 lead with 2:12 left in the first period.
The Cougars pounced on the scoreboard with a layup by Gue at 1:26 and that would be the lone bucket for East Hardy for the first half. Petersburg added two more field goals in the final minute of the first period for a 23-2 lead.
East Hardy opened the second period with a defensive rebound by Jaiden Gordon, but the ball was swiped away by Petersburg’s Day for a score at 7:40.
Petersburg’s Miley Tingler.
