CHARLESTON — Meadow Bridge coach Steve Taylor is normally very animated during a game.

He stands most of the time. He yells, uses body language to convince shots to go in and even does an occasional 360-degree jump and spin.

But early in the third quarter Thursday night in the Wildcats’ 82-25 state quarterfinal loss to Class A No. 1 St. Joseph, Taylor sat down.

“It’s a very lonely feeling sitting there knowing we’re a pretty good basketball team, but up against athletes like that,” Taylor said. “Our hands were tied.”

Meadow Bridge (12-10) beat two Top 10 teams, Greater Beckley Christian and Fayetteville, in the sectionals and a tall Valley team in the regional to advance to states.

But St. Joseph (20-5), with all-state point guard Dusti Chapman, all-state forward Sara Sang, superb center Brooke Keeton (a transfer from Kentucky) and a strong supporting cast, was just too much for the Wildcats from the outset.

The Fighting Irish went up 16-0, mostly from steals, before Meadow Bridge finally hit the scoreboard on a Kristin Redden jumper at the 4:40 mark of the first quarter.

“We thought we could play with them,” Taylor said. “We had told the kids we couldn’t throw the ball away early. We had to get to the rim early and slow the game down.”

But by halftime it was 47-10, keyed by 21 Wildcat turnovers.

“I felt like we’d prepared,” senior guard Cayli Bolen said. “I thought we could beat it (St. Joseph’s defensive press), but it’s a whole lot different when you get out there.”

St. Joseph continued to roll in the third quarter, leaving no doubt the Irish would surpass the old Class A record for margin of victory, 46 points in Tygarts Valley’s 65-19 win over Meadow Bridge in 2003.

“All I could do was to encourage our kids,” Taylor said. “We were playing for pride, playing for our school. It was a pretty tough deal for me.”

The Wildcats were also in danger of breaking the record for the fewest points (15, by South Harrison in 2007). Laira Forren prevented it with a 3-pointer at the 5:39 mark of the fourth quarter to make it 75-16.

Irish coach Shannon Lewis played his subs liberally throughout the game. No starter played more than 19 minutes.

“Our goal was to establish an early lead and cut down on minutes for our starters,” Lewis said. “We have a late night (semifinal) tomorrow and we wanted to save some legs.”

Sang led with 13 points and seven rebounds. Chapman had 12 points and four steals, while Lakiah Smith had 12 points, seven rebounds and six steals.

Keeton hit several hook shots and scored 11 points to go with six rebounds. Amber Chadwick also scored 11 points.

The Irish missed a lot of layups and foul shots, which frustrated their coach.

“It would be scary to think of what we could do if we made our easy ones and our free throws,” Lewis said.

“They’re an awesome team. They could probably be the Class AAA champions,” Taylor said.

Redden scored eight points and had nine rebounds and four blocks for Meadow Bridge.

Bolen scored six points and made three steals.

“We had a great year. We started 1-6, so it was amazing to be here,” Taylor said.

“I want them to take a couple of months and get away from me. Do a little track, a little softball.

“In a few months I’ll come calling again. We’ll hit the weight room, play summer basketball.

“Just because we’re small doesn’t mean we can’t have a great basketball team.”

— E-mail: dstillwell@

register-herald.com



ST. JOSEPH 82, MEADOW BRIDGE 25

MEADOW BRIDGE (13-10)

Harrah 1-10 0-0 2, White 0-1 0-0 0, Bolen 2-10 1-2 6, Redden 3-6 2-3 8, Gunnoe 0-1 1-2 1, Forren 1-10 0-0 3, C.Richmond 0-0 0-0 0, Wickline 0-0 0-0 0, D.Richmond 1-4 0-0 3, Fleshman 0-3 2-2 2, Sheaves 0-0 0-0 0, Gilkerson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 8-47 6-9 25.

ST. JOSEPH (20-5)

Chapman 5-8 0-0 12, Smith 5-9 2-4 12, Sang 4-10 5-6 13, Chadwick 4-9 2-4 11, Keeton 5-11 1-4 11, N.Lobo 1-8 0-0 2, Ferguson 2-7 0-2 4, D.Lobo 0-2 0-0 0, Anderson 1-7 0-0 2, Dorsey 2-7 1-1 6, Adkins 3-7 2-4 9. Totals 32-85 13-25 82.

MB    6    4    3    12    —    25

SJ    30    17    23    12    —    82

3-Point Goals—Meadow Bridge 3-18 (D.Richmond 1-1, Bolen 1-5, Forren 1-5, Harrah 0-7), St. Joseph 5-16 (Chapman 2-4, Chadwick 1-1, Adkins 1-1, Dorsey 1-5, Anderson 0-1, N.Lobo 0-4). Fouled out—Gunnoe. Rebounds—Meadow Bridge 41 (Redden 9), St. Joseph 60 (3 players with 7). Assists—Meadow Bridge 5 (Bolen 2), St. Joseph 17 (Adkins 6). Total fouls—Meadow Bridge 18, St. Joseph 9.