MORGANTOWN – The University High School girls’ basketball team knows the adage that to be the best you have to beat the best.
The Hawks went 16-8 last year with four of those losses coming at the hands of perennial powers Wheeling Park and Morgantown.
Head coach Nick Lusk, now in his third season, said his team knows what it needs to do to compete with those top teams.
“We have a really good group that competes everyday in practice,” Lusk said. “We are going to play a tough schedule with four of our first six games against defending state champs or runner ups.”
In fact, the Hawks open on Dec. 6 when they host defending Class AAAA champ MHS at 7:30 p.m.
Last year, UHS dropped two regular season contests by a combined eight points to the Mohigans before MHS grabbed a decisive 49-29 win in the regional semifinals.
This year, Lusk and his team of 10 members are looking to take the next step with a trip to Charleston.
“I feel confident with our group of girls,” Lusk said.
There’s plenty of reasons why as he returns a pair of seniors along with six other players who saw varsity time last season.
Senior Ella Simpson was a first team all-state honoree last year and is back along with senior Ashlyn Weaver. They will provide leadership and stability with Simpson expected to shoulder much of the scoring load again this year.
“I think for us it is a big mental game,” Simpson said of knocking off the top teams on their schedule. “We have to go into those games and know we are ready for it. If we go into the game with a mindset that we can do it, that we are prepared, that will help.”
Simpson has signed to play next year at the University of Rio Grande and she said she is hoping to end her high school career with a trip to Charleston.
“I have worked a lot more on just being a true shooting guard,” Simpson said. “We obviously are not big, and I have been playing out of position – playing the four and the five. I have tried to develop my game with outside shooting and ball handling.”
That work should help Simpson take smaller guards to the post but also allow her to take bigger guards to the basket with her ball handling and speed.
Lusk said Weaver is the emotional leader of the Hawks and she has worked hard in the weight room while doing the little things that it takes for a team to win.
“I feel really confident with the leaders we have on this team,” Lusk said.
Weaver said she is hoping her senior year can also end with a long tournament run after the Hawks won sectionals last year before losing in the regional round.
“We got overlooked a lot last year,” Weaver said. “That last game against Morgantown wasn’t close, but I think we are going to prove some people wrong this season.”
Also back this season is junior point guard Julia Maisel and junior forward/center Lexi Simpson. Sophomore Bri Fox should see more time on the court as will juniors Alexa Johnson and Maddie Antonini. Freshman Riley Braham, a 5-foot-11 post player, is expected to add some size to a UHS team that desperately needs it.
With the lack of height, the Hawks will play a pressure defense that will hopefully force turnovers and allow them to play a transition offense.
“We are going to have to pressure,” Lusk said. “Last year when we got in transition, we scored. We kind of struggled in the halfcourt. I still think we are a transition team. We want to get out and push it.”
UHS opens with MHS before hosting its own BFS tipoff classic. The Hawks also will travel to Myrtle Beach this season to play in the Beach Ball Classic.
By ERIC HERTER
