WISE, Va. – There was another individual milestone reached, this reservation in the record book the most impressive of them all.
Don’t forget the final stat line, magnificent but almost mundane for this megastar: 36 points, 10 rebounds, four assists.
Of course, the notable news was the outcome, a triumph that sent her team to the state finals again; a road trip to Richmond that has become a tradition – and expectation – each March.
So, be honest.
Did you really think it would unfold any differently for Emmah McAmis and the Wise County Central Warriors on Friday night?
The standout who always steps up and the program that never seems to let up will once again head up the road, bound on a familiar route for the state capital in pursuit of the ultimate prize.
The marvelous McAmis surpassed the 3,000-point mark for her career and helped the Warriors secure a spot in the VHSL Class 2 girls basketball state title game for a fourth consecutive year with a 58-43 semifinal victory over the rival Ridgeview Wolfpack.
Wise Central’s Emmah McAmis scores 3,000th career point in VHSL state semis vs. Ridgeview on March 7, 2025. She became just the second player in VHSL history to reach the 3K milestone
In front of a large crowd at the David J. Prior Convocation Center on the campus of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Central (26-3) was the best team in a big game.
You’ve heard that one before.
The Warriors play the John Marshall Justices on Thursday, March 13 at 6 p.m. at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center as they aim for a second straight crown and the eighth in program history. It will be the 10th state finals appearance for a school that has been open for 14 years.
“Unbelievable,” said Central coach Robin Dotson. “I’ve been blessed. The good Lord’s blessed me more than I deserve.”
Unbelievable could also describe what McAmis achieved late in the third quarter.
After corralling the rebound on a missed jumper by Ridgeview’s Caylee Sykes, McAmis got out in transition, used a spin move to get past Wolfpack defender Kyiah Perry and laid the ball off the glass with 55.1 seconds remaining in the period.
That put her at the 3,000-point mark for her career, a total almost unthinkable for a high schooler.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, without my coaches and without this community,” McAmis said. “It’s special and I just have to thank the Lord for blessing me with the ability to do it. All glory to Him.”
The game was stopped to recognize the feat, as McAmis was presented with the ball while many Central fans waved placards with the number 3,000 on them. Senior Abbie Jordan, who has played alongside McAmis for four years, rushed over to congratulate her longtime teammate.
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Central’s Emmah McAmis and coach Robin Dotson pose for a photo after McAmis scored her 3,000th point against Ridgeview.
“Honestly, when she got her 3,000th, I didn’t know,” Jordan said. “I was cheering so loud for her just because I thought it was a good shot and then I looked up in the stands and saw those 3,000 signs and I thought, ‘She’s insane.’ … She just amazes me.”
McAmis recognized how fitting it was that Jordan was the first to greet her after the big-time bucket. Those two have been through the wars together.
“I couldn’t have done it without her because she’s probably the one who motivated me the most,” McAmis said.
McAmis is only the second player in VHSL history to reach the 3K milestone, joining 1993 Phoebus graduate La’Keshia Frett. Frett finished with a state record-3,290 points before starring at the University of Georgia and the WNBA.
McAmis scored her 2,000th career point on Feb. 9, 2024, in a regular-season game against Ridgeview and upped the pace since then as she rocketed up the state’s all-time list.
In a game on Feb. 4 against Union she took over the second spot among female scorers in VHSL history.
Last month against Ridgeview – again – she became far Southwest Virginia’s top scorer for either gender. She surpassed the previous mark of 2,801 set by three-time NBA slam dunk contest champion Mac McClung from Gate City in 2018.
“I felt like there were times probably during the season where I pressed a little bit because I knew it was in reach,” McAmis said. “Once I kind of calmed down and just realized our main goal was to win the state championship and that it would probably happen if we did that; that’s when I settled down and just wanted to win.”
In his 38th season as a head coach, Dotson also knew McAmis’ total was going up and the time was winding down.
“As we got in the second half of the season, I said ‘I have to give her a chance.’ so sometimes I left her in and didn’t pull her,” Dotson said. “It will never happen again in my coaching career. … Very proud of her and she’s just a winner all the way.”
She entered Friday needing 21 points to atttain the magic number. McAmis found that out while scanning Facebook hours before tip-off on Friday.
“If I was an underclassman, I wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure,” McAmis said. “I knew the main priority though was to win this game and it would eventually happen.”
McAmis didn’t come out firing.
She scored just two points in the first quarter as Jordan, Kaelyn Dales and Aubrey Moore sank buckets in the opening eight minutes for the Warriors.
“I definitely wanted to ease myself into it,” McAmis said. “I knew if I jumped into it too early, I’d be forcing stuff. I wanted to take it slow and trust my teammates and them hitting shots opened up the lane for me. I have to credit them for making shots and giving me a lot of opportunities."
Along with the looming four-digit number, McAmis also had to deal with the pressures of playing for a program where anything less than a state championship is considered a disappointing season.
“The expectations are just so high every year and these two [McAmis and Jordan] – they take it on full force,” Dotson said. “They’re made for these moments.”
The milestone bucket by McAmis put Central up 43-32 and Ridgeview (22-9) never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
The Wolfpack trailed just 26-22 at halftime, but Central dominated the second half.
“We got a little surge and they went man-to-man and we just turned [McAmis] loose and said to get to the rim and she did,” Dotson said. “We started getting a few more stops.”
Ridgeview had made 14 3-pointers in a quarterfinal victory over Liberty-Bedford and also sank that many against Abingdon in the finals of the Mountain 7 District tournament.
“That may be the best high school girls basketball shooting team I’ve ever seen,” Dotson said. “You can’t leave one of ‘em open and they made us pay some in the first half, but little by little we got stops, we got to the free throw line and we hit some key buckets.”
Ridgeview finished 6-for-17 from 3-point range on Friday and never scored more than 12 points in a quarter. Caylee Sykes (14 points) was the only Ridgeview player to score in double digits and she got 10 of hers in the first half.
It was the Wolfpack’s 11th straight loss to Central.
“They beat us in transition a little bit and we didn’t make our normal shots we normally do,” said Ridgeview coach David Robinette. “We still had a chance, it was just a little off night for us. But that happens when you play 12 or 13 straight big games. It just wasn’t our night.”
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Ridgeview’s Caylee Sykes sobs as she walks to the locker room after their VHSL Class 2 State Semifinals loss to Central on Friday night.
Ridgeview lost to Central in the state semifinals for the second straight year and it marked the final game for Sykes, Mackenzie Wright, Hadaya Abshire and Tsega Mullins.
“It’s been a ride, for sure,” a tearful Abshire said following the game.
Mullins added, “I wouldn’t trade it for nothing.”
While Central has McAmis, an East Tennessee State University signee with enough accolades to fill the next five paragraphs, Ridgeview relied on a balanced attack all season.
“We don’t have a best player,” Robinette said. “Everybody that we play has somebody that is their best. If we had won the state this year or last year, we didn’t have a first-team or second-team all-state player.
"I’ve never heard of that. That’s just the ultimate team and that’s what these girls are. In a world where it’s me, me, me and internet stats, internet stats, internet stats it’s the ultimate team game and for these girls to do what they do and play unselfish – we wouldn’t be where we are if they didn’t have that attitude.”
As for Central, its latest postseason push got off to an inauspicious start.
“A defining moment in our season was losing to Abingdon in the [Mountain 7] District [tournament] semifinals. It got us to refocus and I told them in the locker room after that ‘This may be a blessing; we don’t have to play Ridgeview an extra time. The more we play them the more chances they have,’ so we didn’t have to play them that time and two more times," Dotson said. "We’ve just really turned it on since the district tournament. It was disappointing watching another team [Ridgeview] win the district championship in your gym and we were one-and-out, but that made us stronger to get to this point.”
Jordan added eight points and six rebounds for Central on Friday, which had its usual large throng of supporters who hung on every play.
“Our community is amazing,” Jordan said. “They show out and show up for us and cheer loud.”
The usual Central convoy will load up and follow their favorite team to the Siegel Center, the venue on Broad Street that has become like a second home for the Warriors. It’s been proclaimed as Robin’s Nest since Dotson visits every spring.
“It’s a special court to play on,” McAmis said. “There’s just something about it.”
McAmis and her pals won state titles there in 2022 and 2024, while finishing as state runner-up in 2023. The Warriors play John Marshall this time around, the same team they thumped 58-41 last year in the finals.
“I remember actually my eighth-grade year telling Coach Dotson I wanted to win all four years,” McAmis said. “Hopefully, we can get three of the four. That’s a pretty good percentage.”
Dotson has quite the winning percentage himself as he’s compiled a 769-230 record as a varsity head coach, first at J.J. Kelly and now at Wise County Central. The state finals will be his 1,000th game calling the shots.
Here’s another good number: 3,015 points in 122 career games for McAmis.
More math: A 103-19 record over the past four years for the Warriors.
One more stat for the road. The road to Richmond: Central is 318-68 since being born from the consolidation of Pound and J.J. Kelly in the fall of 2011.
So, we’ll ask you once again: Did you really think it would unfold any differently for Emmah McAmis and the Wise County Central Warriors on Friday night?
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The Wise County Central Warriors are heading to VHSL Class 2 state finals for 10th time after a win over Ridgeview on March 7, 2025
RIDGEVIEW (43) – K. Perry 4-7 1-4 9, Sutherland 2-5 0-0 5, Wright 4-5 0-0 9, Cay. Sykes 4-12 3-4 14, Abshire 0-1 1-2 1, Car. Sykes 0-0 0-0 0, L. Mullins 0-1 0-0 0, Strouth 0-0 0-0 0, Counts 0-0 0-0 0, T. Mullins 2-6 0-0 5, J. Perry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-37 5-10 43.
WISE COUNTY CENTRAL (58) – Dales 1-4 2-4 4, Jordan 3-6 0-0 8, Moore 2-4 0-0 5, Tompkins 1-2 0-0 2, McAmis 10-21 14-21 36, Mosier 1-4 0-0 3, Salyer 0-0 0-0 0, Marshall 0-0 0-0 0, Jessee 0-0 0-0 0, Foster 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-41 16-25 58.
Ridgeview 12 10 10 11—43
Wise Central 12 14 17 15—58
3-point goals – Ridgeview 6-17 (Cay. Sykes 3-5, Wright 1-1, Sutherland 1-4, T. Mullins 1-5, K. Perry 0-1, L. Mullins 0-1), Central 6-18 (Jordan 2-4, McAmis 2-5, Moore 1-3, Mosier 1-4, Dales 0-2). Rebounds – Ridgeview 20 (K. Perry, Wright, Cay. Sykes 4), Central 32 (McAmis 10). Assists – Ridgeview 10 (K. Perry 3), Central 9 (McAmis 4). Total fouls – Ridgeview 19, Central 8. Fouled out – none. Technicals – none.