MORGANTOWN — No local basketball game has been as highly-anticipated this season as the ones between the Morgantown and University High girls. Fans had to wait after the first meeting was canceled in December, but Saturday’s make-up game on Bakers Ridge more than lived up to the billing.
The meeting of top-5 teams came down to the wire as No. 5 Morgantown (8-3) fended off a furious second-half rally by No. 4 University (8-5) to win 65-59.
“I’m really proud of the girls’ effort tonight,” said MHS coach Doug Goodwin. “We really settled there in the fourth quarter and once we were able to get the ball across (halfcourt), we were able to run our motions a little bit better.”
The teams played even through the first two quarters with a last-second three from MHS junior Sofia Wassick giving the visitors a 38-31 lead at the break. Wassick scored 11 of her team-high 19 points in that second quarter when it looked like MHS might start to pull away from their hosts.
University’s full-court press started giving the Mohigans fits after halftime, however, leading to a 15-5 UHS run at one point in the third quarter that put the Hawks ahead 46-45.
“We were getting sped up and not making the right pass,” Wassick explained. “We were just trying to make the first pass we saw instead of waiting to make the right pass.”
While the UHS defense was giving Morgantown trouble, its offense was led by junior Ella Simpson, who led all scorers with a game-high 24 points. Simpson shot 9-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-7 from range, scoring eight points in the Hawks’ comeback third quarter.
“That’s typical, it’s normal,” UHS coach Nick Lusk said of Simpson’s performance. “She does that all the time for us, she had a heck of a game (Saturday).”
There was little panic from the Mohigans, however, as they made the necessary adjustments to get past the UHS press and end the frame with a 51-50 lead.
“We were able to control our emotions and really calm down,” Wassick said. “It’s tough, they’ve got the student section going and everything, but we were able to stay calm and make the right adjustments.”
UHS took a 54-53 lead early in the fourth, but Morgantown went on an 11-5 run over the final three minutes to take control and close out the contest.
“We finally settled our nerves down a little bit and got into our half-court sets,” Goodwin said. “We struggled on the press break, when they went man on use we definitely struggled there.”
Goodwin credited his team’s resilience to experience as all seven girls he played were upperclassmen with four of them being seniors.
“It’s nice when you have that because they’ve been there, they’ve been in that situation,” Goodwin said. “When we started, my statement was ‘control your emotions.’ I didn’t do a very good job at times controlling my emotions, but they did and I think that’s what helped us out greatly in that fourth quarter.”
Wassick, a junior, was the steadying hand for Morgantown as she didn’t miss from the floor, shooting a perfect 9-for-9 en route to her team-high 19 points. Center Lily Jordan finished second with 15 points while Mia Henkins provided nine on three treys and Kate Hawkins finished with eight.
Simpson paced the Hawks with 24 points while Hannah Stemple provided top support with 11. As a team, University made 10 three-pointers, four by Simpson, three by Stemple and two by Julia Maisel.
“(Morgantown is) a good team, they’re always up there in the state every year, so it’s a good measuring stick for us,” Lusk said. “We just have to learn from it.”
With the first meeting between the rivals finally in the books, there will not be a long wait for the rematch, as the teams will meet again in less than a week, next Friday in the Rowdy Center at MHS.
“I like it,” Lusk said of the quick turnaround. “I think it’s good for the girls we get to get right back after it. It was a good game, it could’ve gone either way there for a while and they just made a few more shots at the end.”
“It’s exciting, we’ve never done something like that before,” Wassick added. “I think we’ve gotten over our slump, you could call it, and we’re playing a lot better.”
Before next week’s rematch, University will take on the Linsly School Monday afternoon and Morgantown will host an upstart John Marshall squad on Wednesday.
Morgantown 65, University 59
MHS 17 21 13 14 — 65
UHS 16 15 19 9 — 59
Morgantown — Wassick 9 0-2 19; Henkins 3 0-0 9; Bechtel 4 3-5 12; Hawkins 3 1-3 8; Jordan 7 1-4 15; Sweeny 1 0-0 2.
University — Sharkey 1 2-3 4; Boateng 3 1-1 7; E. Simpson 9 2-3 24; Stemple 3 2-2 11; Byers 1 0-0 2; Maisel 2 0-0 6; Weaver 2 0-0 5.
3 Pt. Goals — Morgantown 5 (Henkins 3, Wassick 1, Hawkins 1). University 10 (E. Simpson 4, Stemple 3, Maisel 2, Weaver 1).
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