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Wheeling Central Girls Claim Sectional Title

Duplaga Nets 25 In Win Over Cameron

Wheeling Central’s Taylor Duplaga (25) goes in for a layup as Cameron’s Jordyn Hughes defends. Photo by Cody Tomer

MOUNDSVILLE — At Wheeling Central, sectional titles are often expected. Needless to say, it has been a long year after the girls were unable to capture that trophy last winter.

That makes Saturday’s victory all the more sweeter.

Wheeling Central used its speed and defense to get the best of a game Cameron squad, 56-35, to win the W.Va. Girls’ Class A Region One, Section One championship Saturday afternoon at the Moundsville Field House.

“That was a long year to wait and after that happened last year, we got together with the people coming back and committed to getting back to this point and taking that next step,” Wheeling Central coach Penn Kurtz said. “Taylor Duplaga stepped up big. It is a real loss to not have Kaylee Reinbeau out on the floor for us and they had to make up for it and they did.”

Duplaga played one of her best games of the season and set the tone early for the Maroon Knights.

The junior scored a game-high 25 points with 12 coming in the first quarter. In fact, she scored the first 10 points of the game as Wheeling Central (23-1) jumped out on Cameron (16-8) from the start.

“She got off us to a great start which was really important,” Kurtz said. “They are a good team and if we let them hang around for a bit, it might have been a little tougher. Taylor got us off to a great start and then she finished it for us, too.”

Duplaga scored five straight points in the second quarter to push the lead to 13 at 24-11.

Cameron wasn’t about to go down easy.

Kelsie Meintel scored seven straight points for the Dragons early in the third quarter and Cameron was within four at 31-27.

But as quickly as Cameron found itself back in contention, Wheeling Central regain control.

Duplaga had two baskets, as did Eden Gainer — with one being a 3-pointer — for a 9-0 run that pushed the Maroon Knights lead back to double digits at 40-27.

“That is the kind of team that they are,” Cameron coach Roger Cain said of Wheeling Central. “They took our punch and at this time of year, you have to be able to take a punch and also deliver one back. They took the punch we gave them, returned one back, and that really hurt because we couldn’t get back into the game after that.

“We knew their game was transition and we have been talking about it all week. They like to get it out and go and that is hard to match up with at times no matter how well you want to play a half-court defense. You have to stop their transition and that really hurt us. We knew they were going to push the ball, we just weren’t able to stop it.”

Gainer knocked down a 3-pointer to end the third quarter and Riley Bennington hit a free-throw and 3-pointer to begin the fourth. Duplaga added another 3-pointer to push the lead to 21.

“We created those fast-break points off our defense,” Kurtz said. “Our guards created that offense. We really rely on that, especially when we are missing that offensive threat in the post. I was really pleased with everybody. Hannah White came off the bench and gave us a great game. Kaitlyn Ferns did a great job filling in the post. Jaela Manns came in and gave us some good minutes.

“Riley Bennington said at the end ‘let me guard their post player (Meintel)’ and she just battled her for five minutes because she was killing us. That is what you want to hear from your team.”

Gainer added 14 points for the Maroon Knights and Bennington scored 13. Wheeling Central forced 21 turnovers.

Meintel was the lone Dragon in double figures with 16, also adding 10 rebounds.

Wheeling Central hopes to have Reinbeau back Thursday when it looks to get back to the state tournament with a home game against St. Marys.

“They are big and shoot the ball well,” Kurtz said of St. Marys. “We played them earlier in the year (63-46 win for Central). They are not what they have been in the past, but they are still St. Marys and they will be ready to go.”

Cameron will travel to take on Ritchie County, which beat St. Marys, 72-50, on Friday night.

“I wasn’t surprised that Ritchie knocked St. Marys off,” Cain said. “We scouted them and we are going to have our girls ready to play. We haven’t been to Charleston so we have a lot riding on this. Our girls are pretty excited to have this opportunity and we are going to give them our best shot and hopefully end up in Charleston.”

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