Mavericks to make first state appearance in 21 years Wednesday night
Mar. 5—At the start of the 21st century, the James Monroe girls basketball program had established itself as one of the best in West Virginia.
The Mavericks won back-to-back Class AA state championships in 2001 and 2002. A year later, they were state runners-up.
Now, more than two decades into the millennium, the Mavericks haven't been back to Charleston.
That ends Wednesday night.
Now a Class A team, James Monroe will make its first state tournament appearance since 2003. The No. 5 seed will take on No. 4 Huntington St. Joseph's at 9 p.m.
The Mavericks earned their first berth in 21 years with last week's 72-24 win over Meadow Bridge in the Region 3 co-finals.
James Monroe (16-8) is led by senior point guard Mary Beth Meadows, who averages 14.3 points and team highs of 7.3 assists and 5.9 steals.
Leading scorer Maggie Boroski (19.5 ppg) is a 47 percent shooter while averaging 6.4 rebounds and 5.3 steals. Mya Dunlap checks in at 9.1 points and 6.4 rebounds.
From a historical perspective, James Monroe (16-8) would seem to have a tough assignment. The Irish (19-5) have nine state championships as a program. However, they have not played in the state tournament since 2019. Those nine state titles came during an 11-season stretch, from 2009-19.
Leading the way are guard Ava Gallion (16.2 ppg) and Niko Kaufman (12.9).
The Irish are coached by Jessica Huff, the wife of Marshall football coach Charles Huff.
Wednesday's winner will play in the semifinals Friday at 11:15 a.m. against the winner between No. 1 Cameron and No. 8 Pocahontas County.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5
