MORGANTOWN — All season, the University girls’ basketball team has had one goal in mind; to make it to the state tournament in Charleston.
The Hawks now sit just one win away from achieving that goal after defeating Buckhannon-Upshur 61-35 to be crowned Class 4A Region I, Section 2 champions Friday night.
“It feels great,” said senior Emily Sharkey after cutting down the net in her home gym. “We worked all season to get here and I think we definitely earned it.”
It’s the second section championship of Sharkey’s career but the first since her freshman season when the Hawks made it to Charleston in 2019-20 only for the tournament to be cut short by COVID-19.
“After our freshman year, we haven’t gotten it,” she said. “And after making it to the state tournament my freshman year, we had it cut short and we’ve been working hard to get back here. It just feels amazing.”
Sharkey was one of three seniors starting for the Hawks (16-7) Friday night, joined by classmates Eden Gibson and Aza Boateng.
“I know there were a lot of nerves before the game, but stepping on the court, everybody got that clear focus,” Sharkey said. “We kind of just locked in as soon as we stepped on the court.”
The Hawks and Buccaneers (13-11) battled hard early on and the game was knotted up at 7-7 in the final minutes of the first quarter. University then got a couple of quick steals out of the full-court press defense that has worked so well for them all season to score the final six points of the quarter, helped by a three-pointer from Hannah Stemple, and led 13-7 after the opening stanza.
University then rattled off the first 11 points of the second quarter to cap off a 17-0 run that gave them a 24-7 lead over the Buccaneers.
“It was effort again,” UHS coach Nick Lusk said. “We tell them if they play with effort, we can play with anybody. I don’t think we started off with the effort we needed, but in that span, we did a nice job. Our subs coming off the bench did a nice job with it and pushed (the lead) out a little bit.”
“We kept reading well,” Sharkey added. “Sometimes we have a problem of ball-watching so whenever we get on our feet, move around and read the court, then we get in that transition.”
The big run was powered, in part, by UHS subs Julia Maisel and Lexi Simpson. Maisel scored six of her 10 total points in the quarter while Simpson recorded all four of hers.
“We’re deep and if everybody can give that kind of effort, we’re pretty hard to beat,” Lusk said. “I thought we had a lot of good looks because we were sharing the basketball. When we do that, we’re hard to beat. If we continue to do that, we’ll be a tough out.”
UHS led 28-15 at the break and a 7-0 run in the third helped create a little more separation for the hosts to lead 39-22 heading into the final frame.
A 12-2 run at the beginning of the fourth more or less put the game away for the hosts as they went on to win 61-35.
Despite the Buccaneers having a clear size advantage and ultimately outrebounding University, the Hawks made more than twice as many field goals (22-10) and won the turnover margin.
“It was definitely a tough game, very physical on both sides,” Sharkey said. “The refs kept it in line for the most part, we just had to keep it together and control what we can control.”
Nine players scored for University with six recording at least six points. Ella Simpson led the way with 11 points and five rebounds, but Stemple and Maisel were close behind with 10 apiece. Gibson and Sharkey supported with seven points each and Lyla Byers added six all in the fourth quarter.
Buckhannon-Upshur was paced by Gabby Parke and Kenna Maxwell, who finished with nine points each. Alyssa Abel added eight points and Kendal Currance scored four points with a game-high six rebounds.
University will next host a Class 4A Region I co-championship against archrival Morgantown on Wednesday. The Mohigans fell 66-61 Friday in the Region I, Section 1 championship at Wheeling Park Friday.
“We’ve played for this all year, to be here (at UHS) so that we don’t have to leave here until Charleston,” Lusk said. “Either way, we knew we were going to get somebody good coming in here, we’re just glad we’re at home to get them.”
Buckhannon-Upshur will travel to Wheeling to play the Patriots in the other region co-championship Wednesday night.
University 61, Buckhannon-Upshur 35
BU 7 8 7 13 — 35
UHS 13 15 11 22 — 61
Buckhannon — Currance 1 2-4 4; Abel 1 5-6 8; Parke 4 0-0 9; Henderson 0 0-2 0; Maxwell 2 4-4 9; Davis 1 0-0 2; Dean 1 1-2 3; Travise 0 0-1 0.
University — Stemple 2 4-4 10; E. Simpson 4 2-6 11; Boateng 1 0-0 2; Gibson 3 1-2 7; Sharkey 3 1-2 7; Weaver 2 0-0 4; Maisel 4 1-3 10; L. Simpson 1 2-3 4; Byers 2 2-4 6.
3 Pt. Goals — Buckhannon-Upshur 3 (Abel 1, Parke 1, Maxwell 1). University 4 (Stemple 2, E. Simpson 1, Maisel 1).
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