CHARLESTON – The Morgantown girls basketball team captured the 2022-23 championship on Saturday, and for the senior class of the team, it completes a career of a lot of winning, but also a lot of heartbreak in Charleston.
In the four years that Lindsay Bechtel, Kate Hawkins, Revaya Sweeney, and Mia Henkins have played for the Mohigans, they’ve advanced to the state tournament every time.
However, the progression of finishes is that of a movie script as MHS have returned to win the game that they lost the previous year and ultimately, not losing a game and winning it all.
In their freshman year MHS lost in the first round of the state tournament. The following year, the Mohigans fell in the semifinals, the sophomore year of the 2023 senior class. Last season, MHS reached the state title game but fell short against Huntington before finally capturing the state championship they’ve wanted so badly.
“It’s funny how things happened from freshman year to senior year, it feels really special to finally win it,” Lindsay Bechtel said after the game Saturday morning. “It’s been so much fun being an athlete at MHS, and my time here has been amazing.”
Kate Hawkins added how close the team, particularly the senior class, has been close throughout the years.
“The best thing is we are all best friends outside of basketball,” she said. “We love our team so much and it’s been a blast to play with them.”
“We are going to miss them,” said MHS junior Sofia Wassick with a frown at the end of the postgame press conference.
Each senior contributed in their own way in the championship game also.
Hawkins scored 12 points and added 7 rebounds. She hit both of the Mohigans’ three’s and went 6-6 from the free throw line.
Henkins only scored 2 points in the game, but they were two huge free throws with under 30 seconds to play in the game that extended the MHS lead to two possessions. She also guarded Lala Woods most of the game and did well.
Bechtel had the job of keeping WV girls Gatorade Player of the Year, Alexis Bordas, in check. In the first half of the game, Bordas scored just 3 points on one made basket. Despite finishing the game with 24 total, Bechtel was on her hip all game. She added 8 points and went 4 for 5 from the free throw line.
Revaya Sweeney only played four minutes in the game, but as a senior coming off of the bench, her value to the team is high. When Wassick picked up her fourth foul with three minutes to play, Sweeney came in and played solid defense and grabbed a strong defensive rebound immediately after entering the game.
“Revaya didn’t play as many minutes some games as usual but she did everything we asked of her this year so well every time we asked her to,” Goodwin said of his sixth-man. “Being able to have a senior with her kind of game experience be first off of the bench and come into the game, it’s basically another starter for us.”
In four years with MHS, the senior class was a part of 71 total wins (according to MaxPreps) in four years with four straight appearances in the state tournament and finally the state title to cap it all off.
