MORGANTOWN — Friday night’s rematch between the Morgantown and University girls’ basketball teams was played inside the Rowdy Center at MHS, but no one would blame you if you mistook the setting for the Charleston Convention Center.
The atmosphere, intensity and especially the play on the floor combined for an experience that was very reminiscent of what you would get at the state tournament. Morgantown won the game 42-40 on a banked-in three-pointer by Mia Henkins in the waning seconds, but for two teams with state tournament aspirations, the experience was invaluable.
“This is what’s going to make us better in the long run,” UHS coach Nick Lusk said. “It’s exactly why we play them.”
As was the case in the first game at UHS last Saturday, the stands were packed on both sides for Friday night’s rematch. Morgantown pulled off second-half comebacks to win both games, somehow tuning out the raucous crowds both times.
“Again, we controlled our emotions when we needed to and didn’t get too flustered when things were going a little bad,” MHS coach Doug Goodwin said.
At this point, Morgantown should be used to such situations. The Mohigans’ roster of upperclassmen made a run to the state title game last season and hopes to make a return trip this season.
University, on the other hand, is a team on the rise hoping that two losses to its biggest rival won’t knock the young Hawks off their path to Charleston.
“I think they’re still positive,” Lusk said of his team. “We told them it’s one game and we’ve just got to shake this one off and get to the next one. We can put a little run together and if we see (Morgantown) again or see Wheeling Park again, hopefully, it’s in our gym and it’s to go to the state tournament.”
The rivals could meet again in the regional tournament with a trip to states on the line. But with No. 1 Wheeling Park and an upstart John Marshall team also lurking in Region 1, both spots in Charleston will be up for grabs at the end of the season.
Emulating the tournament even more is the fact that Morgantown will try to turn around from Friday’s emotional win to take on No. 4 Cabell Midland less than 24 hours later today at 1:30 p.m.
“It’s just like the state tournament,” Henkins said. “You’ve got to stay calm, you’ve got to get a good night’s sleep, you have to come back ready tomorrow. You can’t keep dwelling on this win, you have to come back (Saturday) and play just as hard as we did (Friday).”
Easier said than done, especially for the girl who hit the game-winner against her team’s biggest rival.
“It’s hard to do, especially with a cross-town rival,” Henkins admitted. “You win and you’re all excited but you have to calm down and come back in. Cabel Midland’s No. 4 in the state so they’re going to come to play (Saturday) and we have to come ready to play.”
If either team makes it to Charleston in a few months, the ability to notch a big win and then turn right around and play again right away is indispensable.
“How can we get down off this high that quick and be ready to turn around and be ready to go against a very good Cabel Midland team (Saturday),” Goodwin asked his team. “That’s going to be tough. That’s kind of why you do games like this, you don’t always want to put yourself under this kind of stress all the time, but you kind of have to in order to be ready for the state tournament.”
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