MORGANTOWN — Some high school basketball coaches follow the maxim, “First team to 50 usually wins.”
But at Thursday night’s girls’ hoops battle between host Morgantown and University, it looked throughout the first half like that predictive number might’ve too big … maybe by half. Tremendous defensive pressure and effort combined with shooting struggles on both sides led to a miniscule 8-6 score after the first quarter and a defensively impressive (or offensively underwhelming) 18-9 MHS lead at the break.
However, while the Hawks never did find their rhythm, the Mohigans’ offense steadily improved and really rolled in the final quarter, leading to an impressive 56-21 victory.
From the opening tip, the two rivals dug in with fierce defensive intensity, neither team finding many good looks in their half-court sets. The score was just 3-1 MHS midway through the first quarter, and that pattern repeated in the first four minutes of the second quarter, with Morgantown scoring just a single basket and UHS putting up just three points in the entire quarter. Morgantown (3-0) took advantage of their height advantage to outrebound the Hawks 29-16, including a whopping 15 offensive boards, However, MHS shot just 7 of 34, a paltry 20.6% from the floor, while UHS was even worse at 3/18, 16.7%.
Up by nine heading into the second half, Morgantown finally found steady offensive success when mercurial guard Sofia Wassick began to penetrate and dish. She found forwards Lindsay Bechtel and Lily Jordan in the paint while continuing to score on her own to build a 15-point lead at the end of three. In the final frame, it was all Mohigans, as they forced nine turnovers in the quarter, and outscored the Hawks 23-3 to win going away. Lauren Dean led the Hawks with 8 points, and Ella Simpson had 7, while Wassick scored a game-high 16, and both Bechtel and Jordan reach double figures with 10.
After the game, the first word out of UHS coach Nick Lusk’s mouth wasn’t surprising when describing his team’s performance.
“Rebounding,” he said with a wry smile. “That was by far the worst half of basketball we played all year, and we simply didn’t rebound well at all. We defended well, but chased the ball far too much, which left us vulnerable (MHS won the battle of the boards 48 to 23) on the glass. And that means we got outshot (58 to 36), too.
“Look, this was on me. I didn’t have us prepared nearly well enough. We didn’t handle their pressure well, we didn’t execute our half-court offense well, and that’s on me too. I promise we’ll be ready against Wheeling Park next Thursday.”
As for MHS coach Jason White, it wasn’t about the opportunities on offense, but the actual shots themselves.
“We shot it terribly in the first half,” he said, “not because of poor shot selection, but we were rushing everything. At halftime, I told them that they aren’t shooting it like they do in practice, to just slow down and relax. We finally got some easy transition baskets on turnovers, and once the ball started to drop, everyone kind of exhaled. We still have plenty to work on offensively, especially at the start of games, but our defense is pretty much right where we want it to be. Let’s face it, if you give up 16, 23 and 21 points like we have so far this year, you ought to be winning those games, right?”
University hosts Wheeling Park at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night, while Morgantown travels to Bridgeport on Saturday at 1:45 p.m.
By MARK SCHRAF
University 6 3 9 3 – 21
Morgantown 8 10 15 23 – 56
UNIVERSITY (3-1)
Emily Sharkey 1 1-2 3 Lauren Dean 3 1-3 8 Ella Simpson 3 1-1 7 Aza Boateng 0 1-4 1 Eden Gibson 1 0-0 2 Totals 8 4-10 21
MORGANTOWN (3-0)
Mia Henkins 2 2-2 7 Revaya Sweeney 1 1-2 4 Lily Jordan 5 0-0 10 Sofia Wassick 8 0-1 16 Makayla Chipps 0 2-4 2 Sadaya Jones 0 2-4 2 Lindsay Bechtel 3 4-4 10 Kate Hawkins 2 0-0 5 Totals 21 11-17 56
3-pointers – UHS 1 (Dean), MHS 3 (Henkins, Sweeney, Hawkins)
