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Albright: Gilmer girls have great trio to lead them on title quest

Highest on the list of problems the opposition faces when it comes to the Gilmer County girls’ basketball team is the fiery trio of Trinity Bancroft, Emma Taylor, and Carrah Ferguson. Highest on the list of problems is their combined will to win. Highest on the list of problems is their hatred of losing. Say what you want about the Titans’ physical style of play, which is a daunting enough challenge as is, but without this trio it just isn’t possible. Without them, players don’t fear the simple act of bringing the ball up the court. Without them, Wheeling Central doesn’t ...

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: WVU is clear underdog vs. ISU

Late Wednesday afternoon it was announced that the Saturday game with Oklahoma was postponed due to Covid issues in the Sooner program. It has been rescheduled to December 12th. But Mountaineers fans were not deterred, as they immediately pivoted their focus to watching Bob Huggins and his 15th ranked West Virginia basketball team defeat quality opponents over the next three days to win the Crossover Classis played in South Dakota. With Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver this WVU squad has one of the most imposing frontcourts in college basketball, but often has difficulties with ...

ALBRIGHT: Webster County’s Sydney Baird is must-see this season

A young Webster County girl showed a flair for the game of basketball from the time she was four-foot-six and playing with boys in AAU tournaments. During her first few contests, her enjoyment was plain to see. Smiles and a willingness to go up against the boys signaled she was right at home competing in not only a tougher version of the sport, but also playing against older competition. Those bumps and bruises were going to help her should she carry on with the sport as she grew up. Sure enough, Sydney Baird became a member of the Webster County High School girls basketball team last ...

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: WVU heading in right direction

In the eight years since WVU joined the Big 12, Mountaineer fans have been accustomed to weekly shootouts which became the norm of conference play. During the tenure of Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia won 33 conference games, but only four of those were achieved by scoring less than 28 points. WVU had exceptional play at the quarterback and skill positions, but defense was most often a liability. The template has changed under second year coach Neal Brown. In the seven conference wins during his one and one half year regime, WVU has given up an average of just 16 points per game. Playing ...

Monday Morning Quarterback: WVU hurt by lack of key plays

The Texas Longhorns are considered the flagship university of the Big 12 Conference and West Virginia was reminded of that designation in an excruciating 17-13 loss in Austin Saturday. WVU played a solid competitive game and controlled most of the second half but came up short by not being able to make the key plays when needed or overcome three clearly questionable calls by the officials in the second half. In the third quarter a well thrown pass into the end zone from quarterback Jarret Doege hit the hands of receiver Winston Wright. Wright failed to catch the ball cleanly—-the ...

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: WVU pulls off upset

As sports fans, many of us fall into the trap of putting far too much emphasis on the most recent game played by our favorite team. When an outcome is negative, we often view future prospects through a dark, cloudy prism. So after the losing performance at Texas Tech a couple of weeks ago there was a scramble to exit the bandwagon. That included your Monday Morning Quarterback. Now just a week later, we have egg on our face. To avoid accountability I considered claiming someone hacked my Twitter account. Except I don’t have a Twitter account. The first quarter Saturday was an ...