Dominant 2nd quarter by Portsmouth clinches 3rd-straight state tournament berth

LOGAN — A huge second quarter run, sparked by extreme defensive pressure and transition play, helped the Portsmouth Lady Trojans roll past the Tuscarawas Valley Lady Trojans 66-48 and win the Divison 5 regional title on Saturday.

"We gave up a couple open looks early and some second chances. So we made a couple adjustments to that and our kids responded as you saw in the second quarter," said Portsmouth coach Amy Hughes. "Our rebounding and transition game was the difference during that stretch."

Portsmouth improves to 22-4 overall and claims their third-straight regional championship, a first-ever in school history. The Lady Trojans will now move onto the state semifinals where they will play Norwayne — in a rematch of last year's state final — at Wright State University's Nutter Arena on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.

Tusky Valley finishes the season with a record of 22-5.

The first quarter saw the Tusky Valley use their outside shooting to give Portsmouth fits early on.

Sydney Miller and Aleah Wozniak both connected from the outside and Elli Wallick hit a pair of midrange jumpers to help keep pace with Portsmouth.

Despite Tusky Valley keeping pace, Portsmouth was beginning to build momentum in the latter stages of the first behind back-to-back scores from Sienna Allen and set up their second quarter run.

"Give (Tusky Valley) credit. They came out and played hard early on and didn't back down," said Hughes. "Wallick is a tremendous shooter for them."

When the second quarter came, Portsmouth was primed and ready to explode.

Miller would score on a cut across the lane to get Tusky Valley back to within 19-14 a minute into the second frame, but that would be the closest they would get the rest of the way.

Keke Woods would score the next three baskets for Portsmouth with two of those coming off steals and Salem Allen drilled her second 3-pointer of the quarter as the lead began to widen more and more.

Then later in the quarter, Hayven Carter would score 8 points over a four minute stretch as Portsmouth pushed their lead out to 40-18 with just under a minute remaining.

Sienna Allen capped off the first half with a pair of free throws to send Portsmouth into the locker room with a commanding 42-21 lead and never looked back.

Woods achieved another double-double to lead Portsmouth, finishing with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 6 steals. Hayven Carter finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Sienna Allen had 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals.

"We'd be here all night if I talked about how much KeKe means to this team. She got us going after that first quarter with her pressure up top and then she made some great cuts to the basket," said Hughes. "But everyone contributed. Sienna handled the ball for us and made some great passes. Hayven had a great game inside for us. Salem hit some big shots. It was a team effort."

Tusky Valley was led in scoring by Wallick with a game-high 24 points and 4 boards. Wozniak had 9 points, 4 rebound and a pair of assists.

Tusc. Valley 12 9 11 16 = 48

Portsmouth 15 27 13 11 = 66

TUSCARAWAS VALLEY (22-5): Aleah Wozniak 0 2 3-4 9, Elli Wallick 3 6 0-0 24, Natalia Woloch 0 0 1-2 1, Maleah Dillon 1 0 0-0 2, Sydney Miller 1 1 0-0 5, Brennan Reichman 3 0 1-2 7. Totals: 8 9 5-8 48. Rebounds: (O-13, D-19) 32 (Reichman 10, Wozniak 4, Wallick 4, Woloch 4, Miller 4). Assists: 6 (Wozniak 2). Steals: 4 (Dillon 3, Reichman). Blocks: 4 (Woloch 2, Reichman 2). Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Dillon (4th, 1:21).

PORTSMOUTH (22-4): Sienna Allen 3 1 5-5 14, Salem Allen 0 2 2-2 8, Keke Woods 8 0 2-3 18, Hayven Carter 8 0 1-2 17, Bry Shannon 0 0 3-4 3, K.K. Mays 3 0 0-0 6, Sky Mays 0 0 0-0 0, Abi Whitt 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 3 13-16 66. Rebounds: (O-7, D-23) 30 (Woods 9, Carter 7, Si. Allen 6). Assists: 12 (Si. Allen 5, Carter 3, Woods 2). Steals: 15 (Si. Allen 6, Woods 6, Carter 3). Blocks: 2 (Si. Allen, KK Mays). Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.