WESTON, W.Va. — Hampshire was limping to the finish line, having seen its 11-point fourth-quarter lead cut to one Tuesday night in a Class AAA Region II co-final at Lewis County.
Leading 53-52, the Trojans called timeout with 19 seconds remaining, looking to find a way past the Minutemaids’ pressure and did to the free-throw line.
The visitors did one better, with guard Juelean Dixon finding Della Knight all by her lonesome, and the Trojans’ senior made the most of her opportunity by converting the layup. On the other end, Minutemaids’ guard Payten Goodwin passed with time winding down to teammate Makenzie Egress, who attempted a three-pointer from the top of the key that was off the mark, allowing the Trojans to prevail, 55-52.
“We’re a little ahead of schedule with this win. I’m really proud of the way we stepped up and closed the game out against a great team,” Hampshire head coach Jordan Richardson said.
FINAL: Hampshire 55, Lewis County 52
Trojans executed late to get an uncontested layup for Knight, then sealed win with defensive stop.
Knight (18), Stewart (12) and Eversole (11) led Trojans (16-8) offensively.
Goodwin led LCHS (13-7) with game-high 22 points. #wvgirlsbb pic.twitter.com/weppVOEjA4
— Greg Carey (@gcarey938) March 4, 2026
Knight, the team’s only healthy senior, was a force throughout and finished with team-high totals of 18 points and nine rebounds.
“It feels great,” Knight said. “I haven’t been to state since my freshman year. Being able to go back is a good feeling.”
The Trojans (16-8) looked to be in control when they began the fourth quarter with a 47-37 lead that grew to 52-41 on Lila Eversole’s bucket off her cut to the basket.
But starting with Addie Curry’s triple in response, the Minutemaids (13-7) scored nine straight points, a stretch that ended with Egress’ layup at the 3:01 mark.
“The way we play, it sets it up big in the fourth quarter to go into 2-minute spurts and be able to call timeouts, settle back down and get refocused to get into our press,” Lewis head coach Joe Nichols said. “We did a very good job of it again. It’s always good to feel the electricity in the crowd. We’ve had so many tight games this season and in the last four years, just came up a little short in this one.”
Isabella Mathias made the second of two free throws with 36 seconds remaining to end a lengthy Hampshire drought, before Lewis’ Paelyn Hinkle accounted for her only field goal 17 seconds later to make it a one-point margin.
But for all of its offensive troubles during an eight-point fourth period, Hampshire executed out of the final timeout as well as Richardson could’ve hoped for, and gaining the three-point lead made a major difference when the Minutemaids regained possession.
“It was exciting, because I told myself I’m going to sit back and watch these young kids finish the job,” Richardson said.
Knight could hardly believe how open she was and tried to keep calm before accounting for the game’s last basket.
“I didn’t see anybody within 20 feet of me,” Knight said. “I took my time and took a dribble and laid it up.”
Both teams executed well throughout large stretches of the first half, which ended with Hampshire in front, 34-31.
The Trojans’ 19-13 lead served as the largest in the first half for either side.
Knight had 11 points and five rebounds through two quarters, while Goodwin led all players with 16 points and Egress helped keep her team competitive on the glass with seven rebounds.
Hampshire led by seven in the third before Egress scored four straight points to bring her team back to within three at 40-37.
A pivotal stretch followed that allowed the Trojans to gain separation, with Knight hitting a three at the 1:48 mark of the third to spark a 7-0 spurt to end the quarter that also featured four points from Kendyl Stewart.
After making half of its 24 field-goal attempts in the first half, the Minutemaids were 2 for 11 while being held to six points in the third quarter.
“We’ve seen a beast of a schedule and we don’t get to go a lot to the middle of the state and southern part of the state where some of the [No.] 1s and 2s are in rankings, but we went out and find all the competition we could for this moment,” Richardson said. “To have to beat that senior-heavy team, and a team that’s two years removed from playing in a state championship game, we knew it would take everything we had to finish the job.”
Stewart scored 12 points in the win, Eversole added 11 and Brooklyn Klavuhn chipped in with six points and seven boards to help Hampshire win the rebounding battle, 33-29.
Goodwin led all players with 22 points. Curry and Egress scored 10 apiece, with the latte accounting for a game-high 14 rebounds.
LCHS was responsible for 16 of 26 turnovers between the two teams.
“Especially in the last month, we’ve put ourselves in position of having to comeback in the fourth quarter after going cold at the wrong time,” Nichols said. “They fought their way back in it and had a chance to tie it a couple times. The ball didn’t bounce our way. What I’m most proud of is they left everything out on the floor.”