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Clarissa Pinson goes to the hoop as Kate Williams watches in regional basketball action at Summersville. DAVID HEDGES/SPENCER NEWSPAPERS

In the Class AA, Region IV championship Thursday at the Summersville Armory, the Lady Raiders upended Braxton County 35-31 for a trip to the W.Va. State Tournament, becoming the first basketball team, boys or girls, to qualify in the school’s 15-year history.

In fact, the history goes even deeper. No team from Walton High School ever qualified, while the last time Spencer High sent a team was in the 1920s.

But it wasn’t nearly as easy at it sounds.

The Lady Raiders of sixth-year coach Frank Farrar jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game. The scoring came quickly on a Jessica Roberts shot in the lane for the first points, followed by an Ashli Knotts steal and a lay-up and another Roberts bucket, this one on a rebound and put-back of a Clarissa Pinson miss with 6:20 left in the first period.

But that 6-0 advantage would be the biggest lead the Raiders would enjoy for a long time.

Braxton came back with three buckets of their own, including a Shawnna Pritt 3-point goal, to take a 7-6 lead before the Raiders managed to go back on top 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Braxton began to show some of the form that made them Little Kanawha Conference champions. The Lady Eagles took a 16-14 lead and continued to stretch it to seven, 22-15, before Knotts hit a 3-pointer before halftime to close the gap to 22-18.

In the second half, Roane’s full-court zone press began to take its toll on the Braxton offense. Pritt, a senior, and junior Tiffani Huffman together averaged almost 32 points a game during the regular season, which was more than the Braxton team would score on this night.

“Our defense made the difference,” Farrar said. “We were able to force a lot of turnovers.”

Roane went to a triangle-and-two zone in the second half, focusing on Braxton’s two scorers.

“That was our plan all along, to do it in the second half so they wouldn’t have as much time to adjust,” Farrar said.

The move proved effective as Pritt, who had nine points in the first half, was held scoreless in the second half.

In a hard-fought third period, Roane held Braxton to only two points, a Huffman field goal that came with 2:40 left in the stanza.

At the same time, Roane managed to score 13, their biggest quarter of the night that included a Knotts steal and lay-up with 4:34 remaining to give Roane a 23-22 lead, followed by a Stephanie Cutlip 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 4:01 mark. Roane would never trail again.

Roane held a 31-24 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Raiders went on a scoring drought of their own, failing to connect on a single field goal during the quarter. Roane wasn’t much better from the free throw line, where they made only nine of 22 shots during the game.

The Lady Raiders almost failed to score at all in the final stanza, with their only points coming on four free throws. Cutlip made one of two with 5:57 left to give the Lady Raiders their largest advantage of the night at 32-24. The Lady Raiders did not score again until Braxton had to foul with 16 seconds left in the game with the Lady Raiders up 32-30.

Knotts hit one of two free throws to give Roane a 33-30 advantage. Roane’s Sammy Sloan then fouled Jenny Tonkin with nine seconds left. Tonkin converted one of two shots to put Braxton within a bucket, 33-31.

With only seven seconds left, Macy Frame fouled Pinson but the sophomore missed both free throws before managing to get her own rebound on the second shot. Frame fouled Pinson again, with 4.9 seconds left, and this time Pinson hit both tries to give Roane a final advantage of 35-31.

Roane scored the same number of points, 35, as they did in an earlier loss to Braxton. The difference was they held Braxton to only 31. The Lady Eagles scored 46 in their last match-up.

“I knew we wouldn’t score many points,” said Farrar. “I just hoped we could hold them down.

“Braxton’s coach (Keith Green) told me he thought our kids just played harder,” he said.

Roberts finished the night with a double-double, including 10 points and 16 rebounds, as did Knotts, who scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with six steals and four assists. Pinson also had 10 rebounds.

Neither team put on a shooting clinic as the Lady Eagles hit on only 26 percent of their shots (11-42) while the Lady Raiders connected on 29 percent (12-41). But in the end, it was still enough to make history.

Braxton County (18-6) 9 13 2 7 - 31

Roane County (15-9) 10 8 13 4 - 35

BRAXTON 31

Tiffani Huffman 3 2-4 9, Shawnna Pritt 3 1-2 9, Macy Frame 4 0-0 8, Jamie Chapman 1 2-4 4, Jenny Tonkin 0 1-2 1. Totals: 11 6-12 31. 3-point goals: Pritt 2, Huffman

ROANE 35

Clarissa Pinson 1 3-9 5, Sammy Sloan 1 0-0 2, Ashli Knotts 4 1-3 10, Stephanie Cutlip 3 1-2 8, Jessica Roberts 3 4-8 10. Totals: 12 9-22 34. 3-point goals: Knotts, Cutlip