Grove, No. 2 Frankfort overcome No. 5 Fort Hill, 63-60, in OT

Jan. 27—CUMBERLAND — When No. 2 Frankfort needed Halley Smith the most, its senior point guard was there.

The area's leading scorer was held off the scoreboard in the second half by Karli O'Neal and No. 5 Fort Hill's defense, but in overtime, Smith scored seven crucial points to send the Falcons to the promised land.

It wasn't easy, and without 26 points from Larae Grove, the Sentinels might've pulled off the upset, but Frankfort overcame Fort Hill, 63-60, in overtime on Wednesday night.

"First game this year that was within a point that we didn't lose," Falcons head coach Steve Willison said. "We managed to pull it out. ... That's what you have to do to be good, you have to pull these games out on the road."

For the second time in as many weeks, Fort Hill waged a furious comeback to force overtime against stiff Mineral County opposition — the Sentinels lost to then-No. 4 Keyser, 56-50, last Friday.

And for the second time in as many weeks, Fort Hill found itself on the losing end.

The Sentinels had a chance to take the lead with a pair of free throws down 61-60 with 10.6 seconds left in the extra period, but the tries missed the mark. Frankfort's Grace Scott hit a pair on the other end, and Fort Hill's desperation three came up short to fall to 7-5 on the season. The Falcons improved to 10-3.

"We're not taking this as a loss," Sentinels head coach Sarah Bennett said. "Whenever we were down by almost 20, to come back and send it to overtime, pull together with what they had left in the legs and lose by just three. That's not a loss in our book.

"We're all leaving tonight knowing that we have to work on free throws, and that's unusual for us. But they're gonna have a good successful season."

There's no way around it, Fort Hill was bad from the foul line. The Sentinels made just 15 of 32 attempts for the game, and just 1 of 4 in the extra period.

Frankfort, meanwhile, was ready from the onset. The Falcons jumped on Fort Hill to build a 29-13 lead following a deep 3-pointer by Grove, her fourth of the half, at the 5:14 mark of the second quarter.

"I think we just need to address some stuff in the locker room," Bennett said of the slow start. "I may have gotten a little more vocal with them in the first quarter. ... We just have to learn to control our adrenaline in the beginning."

Though it looked like Fort Hill would go down easy, Willison, who won city and area championships both playing and coaching for the Sentinels, knew his alma mater wasn't going to back down.

"Even though (Fort Hill) lost to Keyser and Hampshire, they were close games on their courts," Willison said. "I knew those two losses, coming here, it wasn't going to be easy."

Unfortunately for Willison, he was right. The Sentinels responded with an 11-0 run, capped by a Brooklyne Noel old-fashioned 3-point play that drew Fort Hill to within 29-24 in the final minute of the half.

Arin Lease hit a pair of free throws on the other end to make it 31-24 at intermission, but mission accomplished, Fort Hill was back in the game.

"I don't like it, because that means my players can turn it off and turn it on whenever they feel like it," Willison said. "They should've never turned it off. Luckily they turned it on, but we need to work on playing four quarters, and eight minutes, clear to the end."

Fort Hill continued to chip away in the third, getting within a point on multiple occasions, but Grove gave Frankfort the spark it needed. The junior hit three straight buckets to end the quarter and give the Falcons a 40-35 lead entering the fourth.

While Grove was getting hot, Smith, who entered as West Virginia's third-leading scorer, was struggling to find an opening. O'Neal went toe-to-toe with the senior on defense, and her impact was evident on the score sheet.

O'Neal notched a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. The junior was in shouting distance of a quad with six steals.

"Man-to-man worked out really well for us," Bennett said. "We worked really well with switches. I coached Halley once in travel ball, so I know she's excellent. That was one of our focuses."

Though Smith wasn't putting the ball in the cup at her usual clip, she continued to run the offense for her teammates, dishing out a team-high five dimes to go along with her five steals. Even on an off night, Smith finished with 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting.

The back-and-forth action continued in the fourth. Emily Smith scored six of her eight points in the period to guide Frankfort to a 50-48 lead with 34 seconds left. But O'Neal had ice in her veins, drilling the tying jumper in the lane to force an extra period.

That's when Halley Smith finally came to life, and Grove hit a big 3 to overcome Fort Hill, who just couldn't execute from the charity stripe down the stretch.

Fort Hill displayed impressive balance with six players that ended with at least seven points. Olivia Looker led the way with 15 points, burying a big 3 as part of a 9-2 Fort Hill run in overtime to get within one. The junior also pulled down 12 rebounds for a double-double.

Noel nearly joined the double-double club with 11 points and nine rebounds. Kayijah George garnered nine points, Alayzia Trimble notched eight — including four big ones in overtime — and Carly Bennett chipped in seven.

In addition to Smith and Grove, who combined for 41 points, Lease scored seven with a team-high nine rebounds. Scott added four points and Mackenzie Long scored three.

Fort Hill (7-5) will continue to run the West Virginia gauntlet when it hosts Preston on Monday at 7:30 p.m. The Sentinels fell in the teams' meeting on Jan. 11 in Kingwood, 66-60.

Coach Bennett hopes the string of stout competition will toughen her girls up come tournament time.

"The teams that we've lost to, they've been great teams," she said. "When you look at Maryland and look at 1A, our girls are ready."

Frankfort (10-3), meanwhile, is just through step one of its three-game stretch of teams ranked in the Area Top 5. Up next, the Falcons hit the road Friday to take on No. 4 Hampshire (7-7) before hosting No. 3 Keyser (7-4) in a rivalry game on Saturday night.

Willison won't have much time to savor the thriller in South Cumberland, but that doesn't mean the Fort Hill grad won't try.

"I went downstairs and looked at my old locker," Willison said. "It's still there, same locker, mine and J.R. Perdew's both. ... (The gym) looks the same, except for the LED lights.

"I told the girls, my high school years we were Area and City champions. When I coached with Dave Hobel, same thing. Always had happy experiences here. I want it to continue tonight."

Luckily for Willison and Frankfort, it did.

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.