MORGANTOWN — Goliath started strong against David in a battle between some of the biggest and smallest schools in the state as Trinity Christian visited Morgantown Friday afternoon in game one of the Little General Holiday Classic.
The Mohigans (4-0), ranked No. 1 in Class AAAA, began the game on a 21-0 run as they cruised to a 64-27 victory inside the Rowdy Center.
“We wanted to come out and set the tone defensively,” MHS coach Doug Goodwin said. “I thought the girls did a good job with our press. They kept the ball in check and intercepted when needed.”
Trinity (2-3) was held to just one field goal in the first half, a short-range jumper by Jenna Barnett with 1:20 in the first quarter, and trailed 41-2 at halftime.
“I think what happened was we were a little bit scared coming into the game,” TCS coach Mike Baldy admitted. “We weren’t extremely hard on them at halftime, they weren’t thrilled with themselves and they didn’t need us telling them we didn’t perform well.
“What we wanted to do was build in the second half. The big word for us was fundamentals.”
MHS senior center Lily Jordan scored nine of her game-high 20 points in the third quarter as the Mohigans pushed their lead to 61-10 late in the frame.
From there, however, the Warriors managed to piece together a 17-1 run and held Morgantown’s second team to just three points in the fourth quarter to arrive at the 64-27 final reading.
“I’m extremely happy about that,” Baldy said. “Against Gilmer County, once they got going they went. Against Grafton, once they got going, we really folded. In this one, I guess we didn’t give up.”
Trinity’s run was powered by its pair of seniors, Barnett and Ella Lynch, who combined for all but one of the points and five three-pointers in that stretch.
Barnett led Trinity with 15 points while Lynch finished with nine, both made three treys. The Warriors return home for a pair of games next week, hosting Liberty on Thursday and Notre Dame on Friday.
Following Jordan for MHS, Sadaya Jones scored 11 points, Kayli Kellogg had nine and Sofia Wassick finished with eight.
Friday served as Morgantown’s home opener. All of their previous games were at University High.
“We’ve been in town, but this is the first home game,” Goodwin said. “It feels good to get in the gym, get a win at home and get the season rolling.”
MHS will host Spring Mills on day two of the Little General Holiday Classic today at noon. The Mohigans stay at home after that to host Wheeling Park in a Class AAAA heavyweight bout on Tuesday.
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 61, Trinity Christian 27
TCS 2 0 10 15 — 27
MHS 21 20 20 3 — 61
TRINITY CHRISTIAN (2-3) — Barnett 5 2-4 15; Blake 0 0-0 0; Lynch 3 0-0 9; Moore 0 0-0 0; Conn 1 1-4 3; Deal 0 0-0 0; Fisher 0 0-0 0; Flecker 0 0-0 0; Dinkel 0 0-0 0; Lohmann 0 0-0 0.
MORGANTOWN (4-0) — Wassick 4 0-1 8; Jones 5 1-1 11; Kellogg 4 0-0 9; Jordan 9 1-2 20; Smith 1 0-0 3; Howell 1 0-0 3; Hatcher 1 0-2 2; Alsop 2 0-0 5; Porter 1 1-2 3; Davis 0 0-0 0; Paulson 0 0-0 0.
3-Pt. Goals — Trinity Christian 6 (Barnett 3, Lynch 3). Morgantown 5 (Kellogg 1, Jordan 1, Smith 1, Howell 1, Alsop 1).
