HAMBLETON?- Caitlin Maxwell scored 20 points and Tucker County swiped the ball away from East Hardy 27 times en route to a 71-28 win Wednesday night in Class A, Region II, Section 2 semifinal action.
With the win, the Lady Mountain Lions advance to the sectional championship game where they will face Pendleton County at Keyser High School Saturday at 7 p.m.
"We made the first step toward our ultimate goal, which is making it back to the state tournament," Tucker County coach Tom Carr said. "I thought our defense played really well tonight. To come away with 27 steals and have 11 different players with at least one, shows that we were out there getting after it."
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The Inter-Mountain photo Edgar Kelley
Tucker County’s Caitlin Maxwell, left, and Amber Evans battle a host of players for a rebound Thursday night in the Lady Mountain Lions’ 71-28 sectional tournament win.
Tucker County, which forced 29 Lady Cougar turnovers in the contest, fired out of the gates to take an 8-0 lead after a Amber Evans steal and layin just two minutes in.
After the Lady Cougars got their first score of the game from Marilyn Cassell, Tucker County finished the period with 10-straight points to lead 18-2 after one.
Evans, who followed Maxwell in the scoring column with 12 points, has six points and four of her game-high six steals in the opening stanza.
East Hardy showed some life to start the second quarter and cut the hosts lead to 22-10 after another score from Cassell midway through the quarter.
But once again the Lady Mountain Lions finished another quarter strong, reeling off 11-straight points to take a 33-10 lead at the break.
Tucker County started the third quarter on a 10-0 run to put the contest out of reach for the Lady Cougars, who end the season with a 5-17 mark.
Melissa Carr chipped in with nine points for the Lady Mountain Lions (18-5), while Brittany Snyder finished with six points and seven rebounds.
Maxwell had eight caroms to go along with her 20 points for Tucker County.
"Caitlin has played real aggressive the last few weeks," Carr said. "We need her to keep playing like she is."
Cassell paced East Hardy with 19 points and six rebounds. Rayann Foltz followed with six points.
