MORGANTOWN — The high school basketball schedule is busy with regional girls’ and sectional boys’ games this week, heading toward the state tournaments at the Charleston Civic Center.
It begins today with the Class AAA girls’ regional championships, as University and Morgantown look to advance to the state tournament, scheduled for March 6-9.
The boys’ tournament is set for March 13-16.
John Marshall at UHS girls, 7 p.m. today
After putting away MHS for the sectional title last Thursday, the Hawks (19-5) look for their first state tournament berth since 2009 in the Region I championship.
The Monarchs come in at 14-8, but already faced UHS twice this season and lost by an average of 26 points — 58-26 on Jan. 16 and 71-51 on Feb. 9 in the OVAC championship.
“We have to take this thing one game at a time and just look to play our best basketball,” coach David Price said. “We can’t look at the past because it doesn’t help the future. We might even play better than we did those first two times, so it really doesn’t mean anything. To be successful, we have to share the basketball and play sound defense.”
MHS at Wheeling Park girls, 7 p.m. today
After winning three-straight state championships from 2014-’16, the Mohigans haven’t been back to the state tournament since — the last two seasons ending at the hands of the Patriots on the road in the Region I championship.
MHS (14-10) will need to get over that hump again following a loss to University for the sectional title.
“I’m really excited our kids get the opportunity to play in a regional championship and be 32 minutes away from a state tournament,” coach Jason White said. “For us to make that a reality, we must face a very good Wheeling Park team that has great shooters and can score the ball in bunches. We must play great team defense and use our size advantage on the offensive end, as well as the boards to put ourselves in the best position the be successful.”
The Mohigans are 0-2 against Wheeling Park (18-5) this season, though the last matchup was Jan. 3. The Patriots won 60-45 at MHS on Dec. 4 and won again in the Jan. 3 game 63-46.
South Harrison at Trinity boys, 7 p.m. today
The Warriors (17-5) are coming off a first-round Class A Region II, Section II win Saturday against Gilmer County 81-37, but will face an old friend today when South Harrison comes to town.
South Harrison senior Caleb Jenkins plays for Trinity his first three years of high school before transferring, but this will not be the first meeting between Jenkins and his former team this season.
“We are going into this semifinal with the mentality that the only team that matters is South Harrison,” coach John Fowkes said. “The guys will be focused on playing defense and rebounding against them. We play really well when our guys are engaged defensively. It creates opportunities for us.”
The Warriors played at South Harrison on Feb. 14, a 62-41 win for the Warriors.
The winner between the Warriors and Hawks will face the winner of today’s Doddridge County at Notre Dame matchup at 7 p.m. Friday for the sectional championship.
Preston at UHS boys, 7 p.m. Wednesday
The Hawks (19-3) enter the postseason riding an 11-game winning streak and look poised to make noise at the state tournament if they get that far.
UHS’s only loss in-state this season came Jan. 15 at Wheeling Park. The other two were at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in late December.
“I think a lot of people underestimated us because of the talent that we lost last year to graduation,” coach Joe Schmidle said. “We are very young, but most of these kids are battle tested and have worked extremely hard to improve their game. By this time of year, they have gained valuable experience and played incredible competition. We still have to improve to accomplish our goal of winning a state title. If they love each other and play together we can be play with just about anybody. We will find out a lot in the next three weeks.”
This will be the third meeting between the Hawks and Knights (5-17) with UHS winning by an average of 41 1/2 points — 89-49 on Jan. 18 and 91-49 on Feb. 21.
Preston nearly doubled its win total from last year this season under second-year coach Paul Koontz, but still enters the sectional tournament as the fourth and last seed.
The winner will take on the winner of Wednesday’s Buckhannon-Upshur at Morgantown game at 7 p.m. Friday.
Buckhannon-Upshur at MHS boys, 7 p.m. Wednesday
The Mohigans (13-9) hope they’ve gotten back on track as the end of the regular season with wins over Parkersburg and Wheeling Park after losing three in a row prior.
Scoring has been an issue all season, but MHS has been able to grind out games defensively.
“We’re looking forward to an opportunity,” coach Dave Tallman said. “We’ve got to take care of Buckhannon first — we can’t overlook them. Our offense needs to get it in gear. Our defense has kept us in games, but it’s time for that ball to start falling for us. We’re excited to get started with tournament play. We know our tough schedule has prepared us.”
MHS and the Buccaneers (9-12) met in early December — a 91-40 Mohigans’ win.
The winner will take on the winner of the Preston at UHS matchup at 7 p.m. Friday.
Moorefield at Trinity girls, 7 p.m. Thursday
The Warriors (16-8) hope to make it back-to-back state tournament appearances with a win over the Yellowjackets (13-11).
Trinity knocked off Notre Dame in the sectional championship last Friday, and the Warriors are looking forward to the chance to host the Region II championship.
“We’re excited to be hosting the regional championship again this year,” coach Mike Baldy said. “We know that Moorefield is a good team and we are going to have to play really hard to win. Our focus in practice this week will be getting healthy and making shots.”
This will be the first meeting between Trinity and Moorefield this season.
