So yesterday my cousin texts me all fired up about the West Virginia girls’ high school basketball finals happening this year. 2025, big deal apparently. Thing is, she had zero clue where or when to watch. Zilch. Nada. Just “Hey, you find the schedule for me!” Like I’m some personal assistant. Okay.
I grabbed my coffee, figuring it’d be easy. Pulled out the laptop, opened a browser. F@ck me, where do I even start? Obvious first stop: the West Virginia SSAC official website. You know, the high school sports governing body? Should be right there, front and center. Big nope. Dug through like five different menus – “Championships,” “Basketball,” “Winter Sports.” All roads led to pages that looked like they hadn’t been updated since dial-up was a thing. Found past years’ schedules. Useless. Found generic tournament info, but no dates, no times, and zero mention of where it was happening. Just a big pile of frustration cookies. Closed that tab. Pointless.
The Social Media Maze & Random Gymnastics
Okay, switch tactics. Hit up Twitter – sorry, “X.” Searched stuff like “#WVSSAC,” “#WVGirlsBasketball,” “WV State Finals 2025.” Scrolled for ages. Mostly saw hype posts from excited dads talking about their daughters’ teams hoping to get there, a ton of GIFs, and arguments about ref calls from last season. Zero actual info. Even the official SSAC account’s feed looked like they fired their social media manager months ago.
Then I tried Facebook. Found some fan groups. Joined one called “WV High School Sports Fans”. Big mistake. Just endless car dealership ads and dudes arguing politics. One guy maybe mentioned the finals happening “sometime mid-March in Charleston?” Super helpful. Felt like hunting for a specific hay-colored needle in a vast haystack while wearing oven mitts.
Out of pure desperation, I just Googled “WV State Girls Basketball Finals 2025 Schedule.” Top results? More SSAC junk and local news sites pushing paywalls. Then – deep on page two, like a tiny glimmer – a blog post from a local sports podcaster guy from Morgantown. Buried in his ramblings about potential matchups… he casually drops the dates: Thursday, March 13th through Saturday, March 15th. Bingo! One piece secured.
Verification Nightmares
Alright, got dates. Where the hell is it? Charleston Civic Center? Big assumption. Needed proof.
Clicked BACK to the SSAC site’s “Facilities” section. Found the Civic Center listed under “Championship Venues.” No specifics. Tried finding a direct “Events” schedule on the Civic Center’s own site. You’d think… Their site navigation was designed by a toddler. Eventually surfaced a calendar view. March looked blank. Seriously? Called the Civic Center number. Got a hold music remix of some country song for ten minutes before a lady finally picked up. Confirmed it:
- First Round: Mar 13, afternoon session (girls classes A & AA), evening session (class AAA)
- Semi-Finals: Mar 14, same split (afternoon A/AA, evening AAA)
- Finals: Mar 15, ALL THREE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES back-to-back starting afternoon.
She sounded annoyed, probably gets asked that fifty times a day because the SSAC can’t manage a damn website.
The Where-To-Watch Fun
Figured out the when and where for being there. What about TV or stream? My cousin ain’t driving to Charleston.
Remembered past years being on the local PBS station, WVPB. Went to their site. Cleaner, thankfully. Found their sports section. Boom – placeholder announcement: “Coverage of the 2025 WV High School Girls & Boys Basketball State Tournament championships begins live Saturday, March 15th.” Listed the girls’ games would be carried on WVPB’s main channel and streamed live for free on their website. Called their main office just to double-damn confirm. Yep, the whole finals day is free. Finally, a win.
Almost midnight at this point. Texted my cousin the crucial details I nearly lost my sanity finding:
- WHEN: Thu-Sat, March 13-15.
- WHERE (Venue): Charleston Civic Center
- WHEN (Finals Only): Sat, March 15, afternoon start time.
- WHERE TO WATCH: Free livestream on the WVPB website and on TV via WVPB.
She texts back one word: “Thanks.” No “Wow, how’d you find that?” Just “Thanks.” And then asked if I could find her boyfriend some hockey tickets next week. Ugh. Next time she wants something? I’m linking her this stupid search log instead.