MISENHEIMER — West Rowan gave one of the state’s elite girls basketball teams a genuine run for its money Friday night.
But a run wasn’t enough to scare off second-ranked Forestview in the Sectional 2 semifinals at Pfeifer’s Merner Gym.
“I am not disappointed one bit,” coach Angie Waddell said after the Lady Falcons lost 67-52 and were purged from the 3A state playoffs. “If they’re the No. 2 team in the state and we played them that hard, then best of luck to them. I had to see it to believe it, but think we’re just as good.”
West (19-9) was actually 10 points better than the Jaguars midway through the third quarter. Using a sneaker-to-sneaker press defense and converting open shots from close range, the Falcons built a 41-31 lead.
“We were playing at our pace, a fast pace,” said West senior Sara Pieper. “We were getting good looks and taking good shots. It’s tough to beat us when we’re playing like that.”
Winning coach Lynn Rhymer knows all about that.
“We were definitely in trouble for a while,” she said after Forestview (26-1) rallied for its 17th straight win. “We didn’t do a good job breaking their press and we were in a zone ourselves, which slowed us down. So we switched to man-to-man because I figured if we were gonna lose, we were gonna lose doing what we do best.”
West sank five of its first eight third-quarter shots and scored 10 straight points — the last two on a Danielle Scearce layup — and forced the Jaguars to call back-to-back timeouts.
“We had the momentum,” said West guard Kristen McNeeley. “You could really feel it. It seemed like everything we did, we did well.”
That’s when Forestview did the hokey-pokey and turned the game around. The Jaguars’ man defense smothered the Falcons, forcing a handful of turnovers and seven consecutive missed shots.
At the same time the winners found their groove and scored the game’s next 17 points, providing a 48-41 lead with 7:22 to play. Most damaging to West was the marksmanship of sophomore guard Mary Hall McArver, who nailed three 3-pointers and a cut-across jumper from the lane.
“We contained her in the first half, but she’s such a good basketball player,” said Pieper. “She’s a true player. She’s got it. She didn’t change the expression on her face the whole game.”
McArver, already considered a Division I college prospect, finished with a game-high 21 points.
“She’s probably one of the best shooters you’ll ever see,” said Rhymer. “And actually, she didn’t shoot the ball as well as she can tonight but she did hit the big shots.”
West had no answer for McArver as the game drifted out of reach in the fourth quarter. Her fifth 3-pointer gave the Jags a 59-48 lead with 3:30 to play.
“You could see the frustration setting in,” said Waddell. “During one of our timeouts I told the girls, ‘We’ve got to be mentally tough. We can’t crack under pressure.’ But there isn’t much you can say when the other team is shooting like that.”
West’s defense limited Forestview to only 36 field goal attempts, but it made 21 of them (58 percent). The Falcons shot 23-for-54 from the floor (43 percent) after making three of their first four and grabbing an early 9-4 lead.
“We weren’t intimidated by them at all,” said Waddell. “I don’t coach that way. The girls proved that. They played with a lot of heart and character. They wanted to win. It just didn’t fall our way.”
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NOTES: Forestview will face A.L. Brown in the sectional final at 5:30 p.m. today. ... K.C. Correll added 17 points for the Jaguars, who made all 12 of their fourth-quarter free throws. West was paced by Hillary Hampton (12 points) and Scearce (10). ... The Falcons made only five of 15 field goal attempts in the third quarter when the tide began to turn. ... Forestview’s only loss was a 51-49 decision to Charlotte Christian on Dec. 30.
WEST ROWAN (52)— Hampton 12, Scearce 10, Wansley 9, Jones 8, Pieper 6, McNeely 4, Sloop 3, Moore.
FORESTVIEW (67) — McArver 21, Correll 17, Ellis 9, Beale 9, Simons 4, Currence 5, Gill 2.
West Rowan 17 14 10 11 — 52
Forestview 13 15 15 24 — 67
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