When the dust cleared on the contest, history had been made. The Monarchs punched their ticket to the WVSSAC girls basketball state tournament for the first time in 32 years with a 47-30 victory over the Polar Bears, while John Marshall senior Rilee Storm had an extra-special evening, pouring in 20 points to become the Monarchs’ all-time leading scorer and add to the jubilation of the evening.

After the victory, the Monarchs posed with their student section for a photo with their regional championship plaque. John Marshall is seeded fourth in the Class AAA state tournament, and will face No. 5 Keyser in the first round, set for March 11 at 9 p.m. inside the Charleston Coliseum.

“Honestly, it just makes me think of all the other players in the past that I’ve coached, even when I played, teammates, just everyone involved with the school, how much it means to everybody,” John Marshall head coach Brock Melko said of his earning a trip to states. “I mean, you see that picture. That felt like 1,000 kids over there just wanting to be a part of it. So I’m just happy for our team. Their classmates, and everybody involved.”

“The only thing I feel right now is happiness,” Storm said after the game. “I’m not sad at all. I mean, it was my last ever game in the Fieldhouse, but I’m just truly happy and blessed that we get to be able to do something that hasn’t been done in years.”

John Marshall last made the state tournament in 1994.

After a delayed start to Tuesday’s game, and some stoppages early on, the Monarchs had to wait a little while longer.

“Blood spots on the floor, people getting hurt, their bus was delayed getting here. Yeah, 32 years wasn’t long enough. We had to wait another– feels like it’s about midnight right now. I don’t know what time it is, but heck, we won’t complain.

“I thought we were really emotionally mature in just not letting any of that affect us. [Fairmont Senior] tried to slow the game down and we just kept true to who we are, played defense and took care of the ball, and that let us win. We said we don’t care what the score is, we’ll take a win in the 40s, 30s, however they want to go. Feels good.”

John Marshall led 14-6 after the first quarter, and led 23-11 at halftime after a last-second score inside by Kalyn Reese off an assist by Masyn Inclan.

Rilee Storm came into Tuesday at 1,677 career points, 17 away from the school record.

With the clock ticking under six minutes in the game, Storm’s scoring total sat at 16. The senior drove to the basket down the left wing, and collided with a Polar Bear defender, flipping the ball up with her back nearly facing the basket– and sinking the acrobatic layup to reach 18 points on the game, and reach a new school record for the Monarchs.

I mean, I don’t know how as a 17, 18-year-old kid. I mean, that’s a lot to balance for her– everyone’s expecting us to win, she’s about to get that record. She just stayed composed. Like I said, I don’t know how she did it, but I’m glad she got it. I’m glad we could honor her. And now we can go down and hopefully get three more wins next week.”

Storm said she knew she was getting close to the record, despite her best efforts to block it out.

“I was trying not to,” Storm said of tracking her points. “I was getting really anxious and actually, during one of the timeouts I was doing some square breathing to calm myself down because it is just a game and in the end we were coming out on top and I just wanted the win more than anything. But I knew right before that shot, because we kept calling plays for me, I knew I was going to get it. I hoped that shot went in, and it did, and it feels amazing.”

Storm’s 20 was supported by 15 points from Reese.

Emma Sacca led Fairmont Senior with nine points.