The 5-foot-10 junior guard scored a game-high 22 points and filled up the stat sheet with her relentless play in leading the host Dots past Sherman 53-24. A crowd of about 100 attended the Class AA girls high school basketball matchup.

"Cunningham's the real deal,'' said Sherman coach Terri Dawn Williams. "She plays offense, defense ... she's everywhere.''

Cunningham hit 10-of-12 shots and both of her free throws while contributing six rebounds, three assists and eight steals in Poca's fourth straight win after opening the season with two losses. She also spearheaded a defense that came up with 22 steals.

"I just try to work my hardest and help everybody else get better,'' said Cunningham, who was a second-team all-state selection after last season. "I think we're coming together. We're sort of bonding more.

"We're all pretty new. We have a lot of freshmen. Most everybody on the team is competitive and that drives us. We have a lot of work to do to beat the Sissonvilles and the Scotts, but I think we're on our way if we keep working hard.''

Sophomore Madi McGrew added 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and chipped in three rebounds and three steals for Poca (4-2) while freshman Harley Hutchins had eight points and three boards.

The Dots committed 32 turnovers, but made up for that by shooting 52.2 percent from the floor and forcing Sherman (1-2) into 41 miscues and 21.9 percent shooting accuracy.

"It seems that things are coming together,'' said Poca coach Rudy Raynes, who has no seniors and starts two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. "We're getting some other people involved.

"Some of the younger ones are stepping up.  We're happy with that. We've still got a lot of things to clean up. We haven't had really much [practice] at all. Hopefully, we can try and get some routine.''

Poca scored the first 11 points to start the game and never looked back.

Cunningham netted six of her 22 points during the opening 11-0 run to set the tone. She then tallied six straight points during an 8-2 run to begin the second quarter, handing the Dots a 19-5 advantage.

McGrew scored the first four points of the third period on a pair of layups off Sherman turnovers for a 27-5 edge with 6:31 left. Poca led by 24 points (39-14) heading into the fourth quarter and Cunningham sat the entire final period.

Bethany Kinder netted 12 points and grabbed four rebounds off the bench for Sherman.

"We're young and it showed,'' said Williams, who was without a starter and the first substitute off the bench because of holiday travel.

"We can't handle pressure very good. We hustled and kept fighting, but ... Poca is young, but they're getting better every day. They're pretty quick.''

Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at tatkin...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4811.