Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch Huntington St. Joe's Alexis Hall (21) splits Charleston Catholic defenders Coraline Dundervill (5) and Payton Mullen (4) on her way to the hoop in the Class A, Region IV, Section 2 girls basketball championship on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, in Huntington.
Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch Huntington St. Joe's Alexis Hall (21) splits Charleston Catholic defenders Coraline Dundervill (5) and Payton Mullen (4) on her way to the hoop in the Class A, Region IV, Section 2 girls basketball championship on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, in Huntington.
HUNTINGTON - Midway through the second quarter Charleston Catholic guard Payton Mullen sighed, an expression that indicated she knew her team just couldn't stop Huntington St. Joe.
Charleston Catholic continued to play with intensity to the final buzzer, but couldn't overcome a team playing its best basketball of the season in a 62-28 St. Joe victory in the Class A, Region IV, Section 2 high school girls championship game Friday in
the St. Joe gym.
"Our team played really well," said St. Joe freshman Alexis Hall, who scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds. "We came out strong. We knew we had to play hard, rebound and box out."
St. Joe did all of those things, forcing 11 turnovers in the first quarter and scoring the game's first 11 points on its way to a 17-4 lead.
"You can't be slow out of the gate against them and we were," Catholic coach Zack Bogan said. "I'm proud of the way we fought. The good thing is, we still get to play next week."
Charleston Catholic (9-11) will play at Williamstown at 7 p.m. Thursday in the regional tournament. St. Joe (16-5) will be at home at 7 p.m. Thursday against Gilmer County, which lost to Williamstown on Friday.
St. Joe built its lead to as many as 25 points after a Hall 3-pointer 2:38 before halftime and settled for a 40-18 cushion by intermission. The home Irish took away some of the pressure in the second half, outscoring Charleston Catholic, 22-10, in the second half.
"We wanted to play hard and be aggressive," St. Joe coach Shannon Lewis said. "We wanted to force them to try to make a few shots outside. Some of their misses led to transition baskets for us."
That plan worked to near perfection.
"They force you to do things you aren't comfortable doing," Bogan said. "St. Joe is the best team we've played all year. They run their stuff. We had some really good possessions in the second half, but not enough of them."
Lewis was pleased with his team's performance. Diana Disu scored 10 points and snared 10 rebounds. Kendra Ziegler scored 10 points. Destiny Sims scored nine points and Mychelle Johnson pulled down seven rebounds.
"Our effort was as good as it has been all year," Lewis said. "We passed the ball really well. We have to continue doing those things. It was a very good effort."
Catherine Bandak led Charleston Catholic with 11 points, nine in the first half. She missed her first five shots of the third quarter and went 0-for-6 from the floor in the final two quarters.
"They wanted to get it in to Bandak and we didn't want them to do that," Lewis said.
The victory ran St. Joe's winning streak against opponents from West Virginia to 80 games.
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