Regional Girls HS Basketball: Greater Beckley Christian survives upset bid from Greenbrier West
Lady Crusaders win 47-43 to return to the Girls Basketball State Tournament for the first time since 2011
Wednesday night the Class A Region 3 co-final girls championship game inside the Helton Family Center mimicked the West Virginia weather this time of year.
Constantly changing and very unpredictable.
When the final horn sounded, however, No. 1-seed Greater Beckley Christian had weathered the wild back-and-forth storm to dance in the sunshine of a 47-43 win over No. 4-seed Greenbrier West.
The Lady Crusaders earned the No. 7-seed in the 2026 Girls Basketball State Tournament and will battle No. 2-seed Tug Valley at 1 p.m. Tuesday inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
Greater Beckley Christian head coach Lane Acord discussed the win and the Lady Crusaders returning to Charleston for the first time since 2011.
Greenbrier West came out fast, building the early lead before Greater Beckley rallied to tie the game, 9-9 after one quarter of play.
The first lead of the game for the Lady Crusaders came less than 30 seconds into the second quarter on two free throws from Whitney Bibb.
The Lady Cavs quickly tied the contest, but aided by a 14-4 run, Greater Beckley started to take control, building a 10-point advantage midway through the quarter.
As was the case all night, Greenbrier West looked down, but it was far from out.
When the halftime horn sounded, the lead for the home team was down to just three points.
The third quarter belonged the Lady Crusaders who began to turn defensive stops and turnovers into quick buckets.
A layup by Bibb with 2:26 to play in the third quarter pushed the advantage to the biggest of the game at 16 points.
However, a 6-0 run by Greenbrier West gave the visitors life that it carried over into the fourth quarter.
Turning up their own defensive intensity, the Lady Cavaliers put together a 9-0 burst to close the gap to 40-39 as the clock ticked under four minutes.
Bibb then split a pair of free throws which was quickly answered by a runner from Gracie Rhodes to tie the game with three minutes to play.
Greater Beckley survived several good looks from Greenbrier West before the Lady Cavs finally took their first lead since the first quarter on a bucket from Laikyn Tolley.
The advantage for West was short-lived however.
Aislinn Pelfrey hit the shot of the night when she buried a corner-3, giving Greater Beckley a lead it never relinquished.
Two free throws from Destyni Farrish and one from Bibb sealed the game for GBC.
Adkins led the Lady Crusaders with 17 points, while Bibb added 14 points and Pelfrey scored 10.
Emmalee Nelson led Greenbrier West with 10 points followed by Summer Berry with nine points and Rhodes with six.
Lady Cavaliers girls basketball head coach Butch McQuain discussed the tremendous effort from his team Wednesday.
GBC: Leah Adkins - 17 pts | 6 Stls | 3 Ast; Whitney Bibb- 14 pts | 10 Rebs | 1 Asts; Destyni Farrish- 2 pts | 2 Asts | 2 Rebs | 2 Stl; Aislinn Pelfrey- 10 pts | 8 Rebs | 2 Stl | 1 Blk; Braelyn Farrish- 5 Asts | 1 Reb | 3 Stl | 1 Blk; Allison Moten-4 pts | 3 Rebs; Tomilee Milam - 4 pts | 2 Rebs
GW: Emmalee Nelson- 10 pts; Summer Berry- 9 pts; Gracie Rhodes - 6 pts
