MORGANTOWN — Scoring 30 points in a basketball game is not a common occurrence, especially in high school, where games tend to be slower-paced and more deliberate.
And yet, when Morgantown senior Lindsey Bechtel scored 30 points in the Mohigans’ 76-56 sectional semifinal win over John Marshall Tuesday, head coach Doug Goodwin didn’t think she especially stood out.
“It’s just unassuming,” Goodwin said to describe Bechtel’s performance. “She just goes about her business, takes good, solid shots. She’s been our steady player this year, she just gets her job done.”
To be fair Bechtel, who scored a career-high 30 points on 13 of 15 shooting from the floor with four three-pointers, agreed with her coach that it wasn’t a particularly flashy performance.
“Every time I scored it’s quiet,” she said. “I make a lot of layups and nobody really notices a layup in transition. It’s not a big thing to notice.
“It just kind of came to me. All my points just kind of found me, I didn’t create my own shot, my team just did a good job of getting me the ball.”
It was fitting for Bechtel, a senior, to have a big game Tuesday as it was the Moghians’ (19-4) superior experience that gave them the edge over the visiting Monarchs (15-7). MHS started three seniors and two juniors while the Monarchs had two freshmen and a sophomore in their lineup.
The Mohigans erupted out to a 21-4 lead in the first quarter, making JM’s even play the rest of the way a moot point.
“I think one team looked experienced like they’ve been here before, been through battles and knew how to start the game,” JM coach Brock Melko said. “And the other team looked young, like they needed to learn how to go through that process. I just think one team was ready to play off the tip and we weren’t.”
In total, Morgantown played six seniors and five juniors Tuesday and all 11 scored. In contrast, John Marshall’s rotation included four freshmen, a sophomore, two juniors and one senior — Lile Babiczuk.
“During warmups, I was looking up at those senior banners and I said ‘that’s what scares me,’” Melko admitted. “I’m looking up there at six girls that have won championships and have played for state titles and been through battles together and then I’m looking at our group that just hasn’t. We’re just young and green and I kind of could feel the nerves before the game. We just started off so passive, looked afraid to make mistakes and just dug ourselves too deep of a hole.”
In the first quarter, Morgantown used an extended zone defense to prey on JM’s freshman backcourt at mid-court, leading to an 18-point scoring run. After the first quarter, however, Morgantown only outscored John Marshall 55-49, but the lopsided start was more than enough to make the difference.
“We got into our 1-2-2 (zone) and we got a lot of deflections out of that,” Goodwin said. “We try to get three stops in a row when we can and I think we did a really good job of that in the first half.
“I’m not sure if we’re becoming complacent (in the second half) or not. During the one timeout, we needed to pick it back up and not be so lackadaisical. We had a couple of turnovers and didn’t crash the boards as well as I thought we should have in the second half.”
Behind Bechtel’s 30 points, Sofia Wassick added 18 and Lily Jordan scored 10.
Sophomore forward Kaitlyn Blake led the Monarchs with 21 points and Kayli Derrow had 14. Rilee Storm (11) and Babiczuk (10) also reached double figures.
Morgantown advances to face Wheeling Park on the road in the section final Friday night at 7 p.m. The top-seeded Patriots defeated Brooke 89-45 Tuesday.
It will be the fourth meeting between MHS and Park this season. WP won the first two regular-season matchups, but the Mohigans got the better of them, 59-49, earlier this month at the OVAC Championships.
“I think that was another key win for us in the season that has helped our confidence,” Goodwin said. “We’ve had a few of those throughout and I think that’s definitely helped their confidence.”
“It gives us a lot of confidence, we know we can beat them,” Bechtel added. “They’re a really good team so we’ve just got to come to play.”
Win or lose, Morgantown will play in a regional co-final next week. With a win in Wheeling on Friday, the Mohigans will host another game at the Rowdie Center. With a loss, they’ll have to travel somewhere as a road team.
Morgantown 76, John Marshall 56
JM 7 18 18 13 — 56
MHS 21 20 19 16 — 76
John Marshall — Storm 4 2-2 11; Blake 8 5-5 21; Derrow 4 6-10 14; Babiczuk 4 2-2 10; White 0 0-2 0.
Morgantown — Wassick 8 1-1 18; Bechtel 13 0-0 30; Hawkins 1 0-0 3; Jordan 5 0-0 10; Sweeney 1 0-2 2; Henkins 0 2-2 2; A. Smith 1 0-0 2; Anderson 1 0-0 2; Chipps 2 0-0 4; P. Smith 0 1-2 1; Howell 1 0-0 2.
3 Pt. Goals — John Marshall 1 (Storm). Morgantown 6 (Bechtel 2, Wassick 1, Hawkins 1).
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