INSTITUTE — Morgantown (15-3) defeated Capital (10-8) 59-37 on Wednesday in the final game of the Par Mar Shootout hosted at West Virginia State University.
Lindsay Bechtel opened the scoring for MHS only to be answered by Mya Toombs, who would hit an immediate 3-pointer to snatch the early lead back for the Cougars. Baskets were traded on alternate possessions, but the Mohigans were the ones who found themselves leading 7-4.
Lily Jordan then entered the game for Jason White’s squad and made an immediate impact, which has been the case all year. She came in and scored buckets on back-to-back possessions for MHS while also grabbing two rebounds on defense. This sparked an 8-0 run that grew the lead to 11-4. Both teams then went cold, with neither scored for more than two minutes. MHS would lead 14-4 going into the second.
The cold spell trickled into the second quarter for both teams. Only two points were scored in the first three minutes and the Cougars were struggling to find offense. Jordan was having her way in the high post as she had 12 points already for MHS and she was pestering the CHS shooters on defense.
“We worked on practice the last few days of going to the boards,” White said. “I thought Lily Jordan did a nice job tonight of changing shots around the rim so when they did get in the paint they didn’t always have a clean look.”
CHS found points in the quarter but still found itself down 16 at halftime, 27-11. Five different Mohigans registered points by the break.
The beginning of the third quarter was a different story, however, as the Cougars were the team to strike early with a 5-0 run of their own. Mia Henkins broke the drought for MHS with a 3-pointer, but CHS continued to drive the ball and found itself within single digits at 30-21 halfway through the third, forcing a Mohigans timeout.
“We came out and turned the ball over twice and took an ill-advised shot in that stretch,” White recalled the CHS run to begin the third. “We took the timeout to try and settle us down a little, we went back to attacking the rim and causing the defense to collapse and leaving open shooters.”
Finding their shooters is exactly what MHS did as it ended the game 8 of 14 from deep as a team.
Out of their timeout, MHS exploded for an 8-0 run in less than 60 seconds to once again grow its lead at 40-23.
Opening the fourth with a tiny 6-2 run allowed the Mohigans to kill the clock as the Cougars succumbed to fatigue from applying the full-court press in order to try to force turnovers.
MHS will return home on Saturday for Senior Day as it hosts Martinsburg. Tip is set for 3:15 p.m.
Morgantown (15-3)
Mia Henkins 5 1-2 13 Lily Jordan 11 2-4 12 Lindsay Bechtel 7 0-2 10 Sadaya Jones 9 0-2 9 Sofia Wassick 8 0-1 6 Kate Hawkins 4 0-0 5 Abby Smith 1 0-0 2 Makayla Chipps 1 0-2 2.
Capital (10-8)
Kyra Brown 11 2-2 13 Talayah Boxley 9 6-6 12 Natalyia Sayles 13 0-0 8 Mya Toombs 9 1-2 4.
MORGANTOWN 14 13 13 19 – 59
CAPITAL 4 7 16 10 – 37
3-pointers: Morgantown 8 (Henkins 4, Bechtel 2, Jones 1, Hawkins 1); Capital 4 (Sayles 2, Toombs 1, Brown 1)
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