ONA - St. Albans' season has had plenty of twists and turns, but on Thursday, facing some serious adversity on the road, the Red Dragons may have come up with their signature half of the season and accomplished one of their main goals in the process.
Leading scorers Jaden McDaniels and Alli Johnson combined for 33 second-half points after scoring three before the break as St. Albans (11-7) turned a 27-19 halftime deficit into an impressive 61-43 win at Cabell Midland.
With the victory, the Red Dragons clinched a spot in the Mountain State Athletic Conference Night of Champions. St. Albans will play Huntington tonight and will have to beat the Highlanders and get some help to land a spot the MSAC title game, but the Red Dragons will do no worse than play in the third-place game.
"That was a 25-point turnaround," SA coach Scott James said. "That's one of the better halves we've played this year and afterwards we talked about using that momentum going into [tonight] against No. 2 and undefeated Huntington."
SA weathered an early storm from Midland, which celebrated senior night by hitting 7 of its first 8 shots in the second quarter while building the eight-point halftime lead.
Johnson, who went scoreless in the first half, took over in the third quarter, scoring 11 of her 15 points as part of a 19-6 run to give the Red Dragons a 38-33 lead heading into the fourth.
Then it was McDaniels, who posted 15 of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter, including hitting 11 of 12 free throws in the period. She made 14 of 16 from the line as St. Albans made 28 of 32 foul shots in the game.
"We knew we weren't going to lose that game," McDaniels said. "The start of the season we've come out slow every half and it was just time to pick it up.
"Coach kept saying that tonight, 'Win tonight and you're guaranteed a spot [in the Night of Champions].' So we weren't losing this game."
While McDaniels and Johnson were second-half heroes, credit Haleigh Legg for sustaining the Red Dragons early, scoring 11 of her 15 points in the first half. And then there was Zoei Kirk, who scored just four points but snagged a game-best eight rebounds, had two assists and two steals, and was the beating heart of the Red Dragons all night, seemingly winning every 50-50 ball within her reach.
"Zoei does a good job for us, she's probably one of the most athletic girls I've ever had," James said. "The only thing that hurts her is her consistency, but buddy she rebounds, she attacks the boards extremely well. She had a couple of good steals. Zoei did a hell fo a job for us. She's kind of like an unsung hero, doesn't score a lot of points but does a lot of little things that help us win."
Haley Haggerty, one of three seniors honored for the Knights (12-7), led the team with 17 points with Faith Craddock adding 11.
But Midland mustered just 16 points in the second half and that wasn't nearly enough in the face of a frantic effort from the Red Dragons.
"I don't think we fizzled out," Midland coach Matt Adkins said. "They're a good team. He made some adjustments at halftime, our shots just didn't fall.
"Maybe they just woke up and we did a little different stuff - I guess they woke up and played."