Webster Win Streak Snapped

In a battle of top ten teams in Class A boys basketball, the Webster County Highlanders started out hot, rattling the host Fayetteville Pirates by a score off 13 to 7 in the early going, and led at the end of one quarter of play 20 to 19.

And that is the end of the good news for the Highlanders.

Over the next three quarters, the Pirates outscored Webster 53 to 33 and in the process snapped the Highlanders six game win streak by a final score of 72 to 53.

Fayetteville's height advantage took over during the last three quarters, both defensively in the form of out rebounding Webster, and in scoring in the paint.

Webster next plays at home against Doddridge County on Thursday.

Coach Eddie Mazzella's JV team remained unbeaten as they topped the Pirates' JV team by 10 points. Webster's big three on the JV team (Cole Taylor, Garrett Hamrick, and Pryce Gadd), led a balanced attack in the win.

A brief live broadcast of the varsity game is archived at this link (hit play after link opens):

Varsity 1st Quarter Quick Look

Webster Ranked 10th in New AP Poll

A new Associated Press poll released today has the Webster County Highlanders boys' basketball team ranked tenth in the State in Class A heading into tonight's away game against the Fayetteville Pirates, who are ranked third in the same poll.

The full AP poll for all classes can be found here:

AP Poll

Glenville Falls in Overtime to 4th Ranked West Liberty

As a substantial crowd of Webster County residents watched, the Glenville State Pioneer men's basketball team gave the nationally fourth ranked Division 2 West Liberty Hilltoppers a battle into overtime before falling 108 to 105 at the WACO Center in Glenville on January 8, 2017.

Glenville trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half but pulled to within 7 to trail at halftime 50 to 43.  The Hilltoppers would increase their lead in the second half to 16 points before the Pioneers mounted a furious comeback.  Glenville had several opportunities in regulation to win the game, but the Hilltoppers tied the game at 89 to send it into overtime.  Glenville was outscored 19 to 16 in overtime, the difference being one more three point shot for West Liberty.

Glenville was led by Brett Morris, who scored 26 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, made 5 blocked shots, and tallied 3 assists.  Teammate Terry Davis, Jr. had 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists.  West Liberty was led by Dan Monteroso with 25 points and two other teammates with 24 points each.

The video below shows some highlights (recommend watching on youtube rather than this page):

The box score is shown below:

Highlanders Move Up to Ninth in Power Ratings

In the most recent power ratings of Class A boys' basketball teams released by basketballnight.com on January 6, 2017, the Webster County Highlanders moved up one spot to ninth out of the 50 teams ranked.

According to basketballnight.com,  "the ratings for each team are calculated with a formula that includes win percentage, opponents’ win percentage, opponents’ opponents’ win percentage (strength of schedule), and average point differential. The data is pulled from all games between WVSSAC-member schools entered into the basketballnight.com database. The Power Ratings are calculated using scores between WVSSAC-member teams reported to basketballnight.com. Teams with less than two games versus WVSSAC-member teams are excluded from the ratings."

Here is a link to the power ratings for all three classes:

Power Ratings

Highlander Boys Hang On for Sixth Straight Win

Timeout during the Braxton game on January 7, 2017.

After building up an impressive 47 to 27 halftime lead, the Webster County Highlanders boys' basketball team fought off several comeback attempts by the visiting Braxton County Eagles to win Saturday night 76 to 68.

Braxton put a scare into Webster in the third quarter, outscoring the Highlanders to 23 to 11 to close to 58 to 50 at the end of three quarters of play.  At least twice during the second half, the Eagles cut the lead to a mere 6 points.  Defensive hustle by Dorian Groggs and Mathias Palmer put a stop to Braxton's thoughts of winning.  Groggs led all scorers with 20 plus points.

The Webster boys' JV team keeps winning, this time in a rout over the Braxton JV team.  Most impressive during the JV game was the play of Cody Lowther.  He and his teammates are making a statement that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the ensuing years.

Highlanders Win Fifth Straight

After opening their season with a lopsided loss at Doddridge County, the Webster County Highlanders boys' basketball team has now ripped off five wins in a row after last night's cakewalk over the hapless Calhoun County Red Devils, winning the road game by a score of 80 to 42.

Webster's competition heats up the next two games.

First, the Highlanders play a make-up game at home against Class AA Braxton County this Saturday (JV 5:45pm, Varsity 7:30pm). Then the Highlanders have their biggest test of the season as they will travel next Tuesday to face undefeated Fayetteville, who is currently ranked fourth in the Associated Press poll for Class A teams. The Pirates have a perfect 6 and 0 record and will likely be 7 and 0 when they face the Highlanders. The Pirates are also rated first in the BasketballNight.com power rankings.  The Highlanders are rated ninth in those same power rankings.

Visit to Another Abandoned Coal Town on the New River

Video shows the walk down on January 2, 2017 from the rim of the New River gorge to the abandoned coal mining town of Kaymoor, near Fayetteville, West Virginia.  The New River National Recreation area has hidden gems all along its length like this.  This mining town is bigger, but similar to the Nuttallburg mine visited a few weeks earlier, shown at this link: Nuttallburg Tipple and Mine Area

Watch on youtube for larger version/better quality.