MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown girls’ basketball team welcomed the No. 1 ranked Wheeling Park Patriots into the Rowdie Center at Morgantown High School Tuesday night. Four different scorers reached double-digits for WP (15-1) as a slow start to open the game (8 points in the first quarter) turned into a double-digit lead by halftime after a 23-point second quarter.
The Mohigans (10-4) also got off to a slow start offensively, shooting just 3 for 13 from the field in the opening frame and despite 14 points in the second on six field goals, the offensive effort by the visitors proved to be the difference for the rest of the game.
“Defensively I thought we did what we wanted to do for the most part,” MHS head coach Doug Goodwin said after the game. “We wanted to make sure we managed the scoring from Lala Woods and Alexis (Bordas) and we did that to an extent. It was a couple others that got big buckets for them tonight that made the difference.”
Woods (15) and Bordas (16) combined for 31 points, which ended up being over half of their team’s points. But it could’ve easily been more as the pair shot 10 for 24 from the field. Woods did, however, make four of the eight triples in the game for Park, possibly none bigger than in the third quarter as MHS cut an 18-point, 40-22, deficit to just nine points with a 9-0 run, capped off by a Mia Henkins three that cut the lead to single-digits. Woods came right down the floor, found her spot, and found the bottom of the net to extend the lead right back to 11 for the Patriots.
MHS struggled from the floor on offense, particularly from close range. It shot just 14 for 39 from inside the arc, with many of those shots coming from very close range. Along with that, they went 3 for 12 from deep.
Lily Jordan and Lindsey Bechtel scored 12 each to pace the Mohigans. Bechtel shot 3 for 4 from the floor while going perfect from the free-throw line in six attempts.
“We got them turned over a few times but we have to finish shots from close range,” Goodwin said. “Sometimes the bounces go your way and sometimes they don’t.”
The 8-point deficit around the middle of the third would be the closest MHS would get to the Park lead for the rest of the game. Solid defense and free throw shooting helped the Patriots close out the game and travel home with a road victory by 11 points, 59-48.
The Mohigans will take a day off tomorrow before returning to practice, according to Goodwin. Then they will come back to the Rowdie Center on Friday for a home matchup against Musselman.
“We will get back in Thursday and get ready for Musselman, get back into the flow and be ready to play Friday.”
Wheeling Park 59, Morgantown 48
WPHS 8 23 16 12 – 59
MHS 6 14 16 12 – 48
Wheeling Park – Bordas 14 3-4 15; Woods 10 2-4 16; Daugherty 10 0-0 5; Heller 3 3-4 10; Huffman 3 0-0 2; Abraham 7 3-4 11
Morgantown – Wassick 14 1-2 9; Jordan 16 4-6 12; Henkins 8 0-0 5; Bechtel 4 6-6 12; Hawkins 6 0-2 8; Sweeney 3 0-0 2
3pt goals – WPHS 8 (Woods 4, Bordas 2, Daugherty 1, Heller 1); MHS 3 (Hawkins 2, Henkins 1)
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