By Tyler Jackson
Register-Herald

CHARLESTON — Woodrow Wilson head coach Brian Nabors knew not to underestimate Morgantown coming into Wednesday’s Class AAA quarterfinal match-up at the Charleston Coliseum, and for four quarters, the Mohigans showed why.

Leading 30-28 heading to the final frame, Morgantown was primed for its second straight upset after knocking off No. 1 Wheeling Park in a Region I co-final.

Fortunately for No. 2 seed Woodrow, a strong defensive showing in the fourth quarter coupled with the stellar play of senior Liz Cadle, who scored a game-high 20 points, guided the Flying Eagles to a 64-57 victory.

It was their first state tournament win since 2008.

“We’re just happy to get the win,” Nabors said. “I’m proud of these young ladies for gutting it out. I thought for 32 minutes they had no quit. We had some adversity when things weren’t going our way but they stayed the course, continued to fight and just continued to be the resilient team we’ve been over the last few weeks.”

As they have been in prior meetings between the two teams, points were at a premium with the first bucket coming nearly three minutes into the game — a 3-pointer from Cadle. Lindsay Bechtel answered for Morgantown with her own triple, eventually helping the Mohigans to a 10-7 lead at the end of the first.

Afterwards, Woodrow settled in.

The two teams traded the lead five times with two ties in the second quarter, but five straight points from Cadle before the intermission gave Woodrow a 22-17 advantage at the break.

“I just took what was open,” Cadle said. “Like coach said, when they packed the 3-2 they just kept telling us to attack it so that’s what I did. Whenever I got open shots I took them so I just basically read the defense and took what it gave me.”

The third quarter, though, was identical to the first for Morgantown, which held Woodrow scoreless until the 3:06 mark.

“I was really proud of the way we started the second half,” MHS coach Jason White said. “We’ve been a team all year that’s been notorious all year for coming out in the second half and games get away from us and that’s exactly what happened to us the last time we face this team in Beckley. We were down at the half and they went on a big run in the third quarter and kind of blew us out. We really wanted to focus on keeping that ball in the high post. Against a zone they love to run that motion and run cutters into that high post and they’re really dangerous once the ball gets in there. They shoot it well in there, they find the open teammate in the low post, they find shooters they can kick to. We tried to keep the ball out of the high post, turn them into perimeter shooters, especially from the top of the key. I thought we did a good job of it.”

Fortunately for the Flying Eagles, a quick start to the fourth gave them the advantage for good. A 3-point play from freshman Keanti Thompson followed by a 3 from Cloey Frantz established a four-point lead. Cadle finished the quarter going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line, putting the game away in the final minute as Woodrow held the Mohigans to just seven points in the quarter.

“I just thought we stepped our defense up more,” Nabors said. “We did a better job of penetrating and making them come help on some of our ball handlers. That zone, that 3-2 zone was tough. They packed it in and they knew we wanted to go inside. We depended on our guards to make the right decisions and attack the zone and not settle for outside shots. However, we told them if they got the shot they had to take it. We did a good job penetrating and I thought we knocked down some big shots down the stretch.”

Cadle led all scorers with 20 points and was the only Woodrow player in double figures. Kaitlyn Ammons led Morgantown with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Cat Wassick added 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Morgantown (14-12)
Lindsay Bechtel 5, Cat Wassick 11, Berit Johnson 3, Kaitlyn Ammons 16, Alayjah Jones 2.
Woodrow Wilson (20-5)
Keanti Thompson 8, Cloey Frantz 7, Victoria Staunton 4, Liz Cadle 20, Jamara Walton 4, Olivia Ziolkowski 1.
MHS 10 7 13 7 — 37
WW 7 15 6 16 — 44
3-pointers: MHS 3 (Bechtel 1, Johnson 1, Ammons 1); WW 4 (Frantz 1, Cadle 3).
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