MORGANTOWN — The University High girls’ basketball team survived a late, fourth-quarter surge by Preston on Tuesday to advance to play for the sectional championship with a 44-35 victory.
Ella Simpson led all scorers with 22 for UHS (9-10), while Carsynn Sines contributed 20 for the Knights (6-16).
To begin the game, UHS would be ice cold shooting the ball, only going 1 of 7 from the floor in the first three minutes of play. This allowed PHS to take an early 6-3 lead behind the play of Sines.
Hawks’ freshman Hannah Stemple would then enter the game and spark her team on a 9-0 run, including five points of her own, as they found themselves in control at 12-6 with 90 seconds to play in the first. Each team would add a point from the free throw line and head into the second at 13-7 with UHS leading.
The end of the first would carry into the second, with UHS controlling the pace of the game and not allowing PHS to find open shots. The Knights were 1 of 9 from 3-point range and Sines had nearly all of their points with her team trailing by seven.
PHS would then get a pair of triples from Emma Wilson and Breanna Spahr, as they tried to keep pace with UHS. The final two minutes of the half were slow for both teams and UHS would cling to a six point lead at 21-15 going into the locker room. University head coach Nick Lusk wanted his teams’ first-half effort to be a little better.
“First half I thought we played selfish,” Lusk said. “We had one assist in the first half and I just don’t think we are very good when we play that way.”
A 5-0 run to begin the third would help the Hawks open a double-digit lead at 26-15 early on. PHS would hold serve with UHS however, and despite only scoring six points in the quarter, they only allowed 11 points to the Hawks as pace of play would slow down significantly.
Trailing by 11 and with their season on the line, the Knights came out of the huddle determined to give themselves a chance. Five quick points would see them within six points but UHS would answer with a few free throws of its’ own. Spahr would score two triples on back-to-back possessions as PHS found it cutting the deficit to just five, and then just three points with two minutes to play, 38-35. However, foul trouble would plague the Knights as UHS extended the lead to seven points and wouldn’t look back as they took home the win 44-35.
University will advance to play at Buckhannon-Upshur at 7 p.m. Friday in the sectional championship.
University (9-10)
Ella Simpson 16 8-9 22 Hannah Stemple 11 5-6 12 Lyla Byers 7 1-2 6 Eden Gibson 6 2-5 2 Aza Boateng 4 0-2 2
Preston (6-16)
Carsynn Sines 17 3-4 20 Breanna Spahr 7 0-0 9 Emma Wilson 3 0-0 3 Natalie Ammon 3 1-2 3
UNIVERSITY 13 8 11 12 – 44
PRESTON 7 8 6 14 – 35
Three-pointers: UHS 2 (Byers and Stemple 1); PHS 5 (Spahr 3, Wilson 1, Sines 1)
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