Hampshire wins section title with 52-23 victory over Keyser

Feb. 25—ROMNEY, W.Va. — No. 1 seed Hampshire clinched the West Virginia Region I Section 2 title with a dominant 52-23 win over No. 2 seed Keyser on Friday night.

"For these girls that have put so much time in and so much work in, it's the next step for them," Hampshire interim head coach Troy Crane said. "They deserve it."

The Trojans (13-10) controlled the game from the opening tip and never trailed.

"It all came together at the right time," Crane said. "It hasn't been all together, if you had a night that it needed to all come together it was tonight."

The Golden Tornado (13-11) struggled on both ends, especially on offense.

"They out hustled us from the jump tonight which was very disappointing," Keyser head coach Josh Blowe said. "We knew there would be a lot of energy in the building tonight, we knew we had to match that energy. We looked like a deer in headlights tonight. I've never seen a game and I hope I'm never part of a game where only one girl scores the basketball."

Hampshire scored the first 13 points as Izzy Blomquist led the Trojans with 10 points and scored Hampshire's first five of the night.

"All we talked about all week was getting to the rim," Crane said. "Getting to the rim, getting around your man and we shot the ball well throughout the week. We haven't shot it well since I've been here. It was falling under pressure all week in practice. When you see it going in, their confidence shoots through the roof."

It took until the 3:05 mark in the first quarter for Keyser to score. Autumn Kerchner made a layup off a Kiya Kesner assist. Kerchner scored four of the Tornado's five points in the quarter.

"I was hoping to see a shot go in early," Blowe said. "That usually settles us down, that never came. Credit to them, I thought they made every shot in the first four minutes of the game."

Down 21-5 after one quarter, Kerchner took over in the second. She scored 11 points and scored 15 of Keyser's 17 first-half points. She was the only Golden Tornado to make a field goal in the first half.

"As a sophomore, I thought she played amazing tonight," Blowe said. "So proud of her, I just wish she had a little bit of help along the way."

The Trojans led 30-17 at halftime. The Tornado struggled to shoot in the first half, going 7 for 28 from the field. Kerchner was 7 for 9 while the rest of the team was 0 for 19.

"It wasn't like we weren't getting shots," Blowe said. "We were getting layups and wide open jump shots we usually make. I guess we used them all up on Tuesday night."

Hampshire continued to build on its lead in the third quarter, holding Keyser to two points while scoring 14. The Tornado did not make a field goal and only scored off of free throws.

"I thought Della (Knight) and Kora (McBride) came in and their length on their matched-up girls, it really showed," Crane said. "They really help shut things down."

The Trojans led 44-19 after three quarters and outscored Keyser 19-4 in the fourth.

"Liz (Pryor) got into foul trouble, when she was in our man-to-man was really working well," Crane said. "We were able to help on Kerchner, with Liz back in it just came together."

After dominating in a 63-24 win over Berkeley Springs on Tuesday, the Tornado looked like a completely different team on Friday.

"When that ball did not go in the basket the first three minutes, I felt our girls' energy level went from pretty good to deflated," Blowe said. "We can't do that against a good team. It just can't happen."

Blomquist led Hampshire with 16 points and three assists. Hannah Ault scored 12 points with three steals and two assists. Pryor finished with 10 points while Knight scored nine with a pair of steals.

"They're two of our most experienced players," Crane said of Blomquist and Ault. "They do what your experienced players do, they don't back down from anything. Hannah was shooting better this week than I've seen her, she stayed hot today."

Kerchner scored 20 of Keyser's 23 points. She was the only Tornado player to make a field goal.

"For a tenth grader to come into this atmosphere and play like that, she's definitely looking pretty good for the future," Blowe said.

While the Trojans clinched the section title, both teams advance to the co-region finals on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Hampshire will host 11-13 Oak Glen while Keyser travels to play 21-1 North Marion.

"It's everything for these girls," Crane said of maintaining home-court advantage. "Now they have the home crowd, now they have the energy. But it's still a long season, all teams have seen everything. We still gotta play, if we're not shooting like we have been it's still gonna be a game."

North Marion beat Oak Glen by 40 points on Thursday night to earn the right to host the Tornado.

"They're the projected AAA state champion, we know what we're tasked with," Blowe said. "The good thing is, we've played them five times in the past and we're 2-3. If we come out and we don't give effort, don't make shots, it's gonna be a long night."

Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @JKendallCTN.