By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
One could say the Calhoun High School team was butchered in the first round
of the Class A Region II, Section 4 tournament and they would be right if
they put the parenthesis around "butchered."
That's because Calhoun was not literally butchered but it was figuratively
butchered by Gilmer County freshman Katherine Butcher.
Butcher scored a game
high 21 points, including 17 in the first half when she outscored the Red
Devils by herself, to lead the Titans to a 61-31 victory Tuesday night.
The game was close for a while but when Butcher started zeroing in from
beyond the three-point line it was all over. She had five three-point goals
in the first half as Gilmer took a 26-14 halftime lead.
In the second half the Red Devils put freshman Tessa Batten on Butcher and
she slowed Butcher down, but when all the attention was diverted to stopping
Butcher it freed up the Titans Whitney Minigh, who also hit several long
bombs while scoring 18 points while adding 12 rebounds.
For Calhoun, which finishes its season with a 3-19 record, Dani Church led
the way with 14 points.
While the curtain has ringed down on both women's teams - the CMS girls were
knocked out of the tournament last week - both boys teams are still playing.
The Calhoun Middle School boys downed Spencer 45-33 Monday night behind Zack
Moore's 23-point performance.
The win lifts CMS, now 9-8, into the CWVAC tournament semifinals Friday
night at Braxton County.
Should CMS win Friday night it will play for the
championship Saturday.
The Calhoun High School boys will end their regular season Thursday night
when they entertain Wahama.
The Red Devils were in action Tuesday night too as they traveled to
Parkersburg to faced the fourth-ranked Class A Parkersburg Catholic
Crusaders.
The Red Devils fell to PCHS 60-41 to drop to 3-18 on the season.
Steve Cunningham and Tommy Gerwig led Calhoun with 10 each while Tyler
Shartiger chipped in with eight.
Before the game PCHS seniors, including Peter Bocchini the grandson of
Betty Zannoni and the late Peter Zannoni, were honored.
Following Thursday's game the Red Devils are idle until next week when they
begin tournament play.
Calhoun's other winter athletic team - the wrestling team - will send 11
wrestlers to the state tournament in Huntington.
Representing Calhoun will be Shawn Gungle (103); Seth Jarvis (112); Tyler
Bain (119); Eddie Burrows (125); Jaron Sampson (130); Justin Ramsey (135);
Jeff Goodrich (140); Caleb Hart (145); Paul Goodrich (189); Zac Yeager (215)
and Justin Whipkey (275). Goodrich is the top-ranked wrestler in his weight
division and is the defending champion at 171 pounds.
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