MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It was apparent in the opening minutes of University’s Friday home game against Preston that the Hawks have had a long week. Still, despite stepping foot on the pine for the third day in a row, University shook off a sluggish start to hold off the Knights, 58-43.
And while a team effort to beat both the visiting Knights and exhaustion, a lot of credit falls on the shoulders of freshman Ella Simpson who led the Hawks with 19 points.
“I think it’s important we push ourselves,” Simpson said. “This week we had a lot of games, everyone was exhausted so it was important we got that momentum going and that we started playing better together.”
“[Ella] is a big piece,” UHS coach David Price said. “She’s allowing us to get balls to the midline and either does something good with it herself or distribute it on the backside. She’s doing an excellent job, she’s a great player and her speed is very good. I like her; I think she’s an excellent player.”
For two minutes, neither team could find a basket until UHS freshman Lily Jordan lifted in an uncontested baseline jumper. Preston responded with a point of its own on the next drive on a solo free throw, and after another minute of scoreless runs, Jordan was able to grab two of her own rebounds for a putback lay in, pushing the lead to 4-1.
The struggles continued until Price called a timeout, then the shots finally started falling for UHS. Simpson and Jordan would trade buckets, hitting seven and eight, respectively, to push the Hawks’ lead to 15-5 at the end of the first.
Emily Sharkey opened the second quarter with a wide-open 3 for UHS, followed by an easy low post bucket from Carsynn Sines and physical layup and-1 for Thomas, but on the Knights’ next possession Sharkey picked off a pass in the wing and followed it up with an easy layup. Turnovers and no rebounding hurt the Knights further, as UHS jumped ahead to a 25-10 lead with 4:46 left in the half.
Thomas stayed the Knights’ only real playmaker hitting five free throws and a floater in the final minutes – she secured 15 of her 20 points in the first half – but without any help and another group effort by the Hawks, Preston was unable to close the gap and UHS held a 30-18 lead at the break.
Following the break, Simpson picked up three quick points: One at the charity stripe line after getting fouled on an offensive board putback, then two off a transition layup after stealing the ball. Preston’s offensive started clicking, though, outpacing the Hawks for a 4-0 run before Lauren Dean ended the run with a steal and easy bucket in transition, her first points of the game. Despite Kinley Manko, Izabella Stahl and Thomas’ best efforts at fighting back, the Hawks kept pushing the tempo and finding easy points in the paint, holding a 15-point lead at the end of the frame. The best moments of the third came from Simpson who picked up a pair of back-to-back steals and four points in transition to maintain the big lead.
University managed to hold its lead through the fourth, but at the 4-minute mark, the Knights looked as if they could rally. At the critical moment, though, the teams exchanged a long series of bad shots and turnovers, chewing too much clock. Simpson put the final nails in the coffin with two final free throws.
“I think they’re gaining ground every day,” Price said. “We’re not where we want to be but we’re making good headway with it. All of our kids are coming together and are sharing the ball well. Multiple games with players in double digits because they share the ball so well.”
In a season where depth is of the utmost importance, and as she continues to navigate her first varsity season, Simpson hopes to simply just progress.
“I hope to keep working together with everyone on my team, to keep being a team player, giving up the ball whenever someone’s open, anything like that,” she said.
As for the increased tempo in the face of exhaustion?
“We’re a young team and really small, everyone knows that, so it’s important we run,” she said. “It’s what we do best: We press, we push the ball as fast as we can, and that’s what we have to do to win games.”
Aside from Simpson, Dean secured 11 points and Jordan had 10.
Sines added 15 for Preston in the loss.
Despite the loss, PHS coach Brian Miller sees the bright side. After not playing last week due to Buckhannon-Upshur facing a COVID-19 outbreak and then a false positive shutting down his team early this week, the Knights haven’t been able to prepare well.
“We play 15 teams and 11 are ranked,” Miller said. “But I saw enough to know tonight that we can beat them if we play well. We didn’t shoot well. We [knew] what they were going to do, I thought we matched the intensity; we didn’t shoot well. It’s probably rust, we sat at home. I always tell them to be quick, but don’t be in a hurry. We would get the offensive rebound and hurry with our shot back up. We’d move the ball and hurry with what we were trying to do and it just dug us a hole. We had the shots to win, we just didn’t make them.”
Up next
University gets a four-day break before they play No. 4 Morgantown on Tuesday. Preston travels to Charles Town to face Washington Saturday at 5:30 p.m. before closing out its long road series with 4A foe No. 9 Bridgeport on Monday and 3A opponents No. 9 East Fairmont (Wednesday) and No. 1 Fairmont Senior (Friday).
BOX SCORE
Preston (1-1) 5 13 15 10 – 43
University (4-2) 15 15 18 10 – 58
PHS: Michelle Thomas 7 6-13 20; Carsynn Sines 7 1-2 15; Kinley Manko 2 0-0 4; Natalie Annon 1 0-0 2; Izabela Stahl 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 7-15 43.
UHS: Ella Simpson 7 5-8 19; Lauren Dean 3 4-4 11; Lily Jordan 5 0-0 10; Emily Sharkey 3 1-2 8; Ashlyn Weaver 3 0-0 8; Eden Gibson 1 0-0 2; Maddy McClurg 0 0-2 0. Totals 22 10-16 58.
3-pointers: UHS 4 (Weaver 2, Sharkey, Dean).
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