Girls basketball: Shamblin leads Nitro past Capital

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nitro standout Savannah Shamblin entered the week as the area's leading scorer but was coming off a season-low 10 points in the Wildcats victory Tuesday against Riverside.

The junior certainly returned to her scoring form just two days later against Capital.

Shamblin hit back-to-back three pointers within the first minute of the game on her way to a game high 28 points in leading the Wildcats to a 64-37 victory over the Cougars Thursday night in a game that was moved to Capital due to continued water issues at Nitro.

With the victory, the Wildcats (8-0) remain unbeaten on the season - the Kanwaha Valley's only team without a loss. Capital falls to 3-7 with the loss.

Both Nitro coach Will Samuel and Shamblin had a feeling before the game even started that the Wildcat point guard might return to her scoring dominance.

"This is the first time she has ever done this but she came over to me during warmups and said, 'Coach, I feel good today'. I was like 'Go play'," Samuel said. "Then she goes out and nails a couple three's there off the bat. She is coming down the court smiling. I was hoping it would keep rolling."

Shamblin added, "In warmups, I never make three's but I felt it tonight. I came out and hit three in a row. I think it got us all going and pumped. It turned out to be a really good game."

Capital coach B.J. Calabrese was far from happy at Shamblin hitting the back-to-back three pointers on open looks 38 seconds into the game.

"We got off to a terrible start in the first quarter," Calabrese said. "I never call a timeout in the first 30 seconds. You can't leave Shamblin open. She has a quick release and you have to stay out on her."

Shamblin's hot shooting early got Nitro off and running and the Wildcats jumped all over Capital, leading by as many as 12 points late in the first quarter.

To Calabrese and the Cougars' credit, they battled back after the slow start, cutting the Nitro lead all the way down to three points at 20-17 midway through the second quarter before eventually trailing by seven at halftime.

Much like the start of the game, though, Nitro came out to begin the third quarter and took it right to Capital, going on a 11-0 run to take a 18-point lead, and this time, the Cougars could never recover.

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