MORGANTOWN — Day two of the Little General Holiday Classic kicked off on Saturday with the defending Class AAAA state champion Morgantown girls squaring off against the Spring Mills Cardinals.
The Mohigans (5-0) used a strong shooting effort early on in the contest to take control of the game from the opening tip and didn’t look back on their way to a convincing 71-32 victory over the Cardinals.
Senior Lily Jordan led all scorers with 20 points but was followed closely by teammates Kayli Kellogg with 19 and Sadaya Jones, who added 18. Gabby Ball led the scoring effort for the Cardinals with 10.
“Spring Mills is a hard playing team and credit to them for not giving up one bit,” MHS head coach Doug Goodwin said. “We lost a little bit of focus after jumping out to the lead we had in the first quarter, but the girls did well to respond and did a very good job in the third quarter.”
MHS jumped out to a 28-6 advantage after the opening frame, shooting 8 for 12 from the floor, including four triples from three different players.
“We got some good open looks early and were able to knock down some shots,” Goodwin said. “When we are able to have a quick start that way we are a hard team to beat. Everyone works so hard on practice every day and has done a great job early on.”
The Cardinals fought hard despite the score and came out strong on defense in the second quarter. The Mohigans went a little stagnant on offense which allowed SM to cut into the lead a bit and even outscore MHS 14-12 in the frame.
“That’s what we talked about in the locker room,” Goodwin said. “They came out and put it to us in the second quarter and we stressed how important it was to come out and win the third.”
MHS took the message from its head coach and executed well, holding the Cardinals scoreless in the third quarter while scoring 21 of its own. The Mohigans made 19 free throws in the contest and had seven different scorers.
SM managed to win the fourth quarter 12-10, but the deficit was too great after the opening quarter for the comeback to happen.
The Mohigans improved to 5-0 on the season and will have another quick turnaround as they are set to host Wheeling Park on Tuesday in a battle of the top two teams in Class AAAA.
“Going forward, I would like us to execute a little better,” Goodwin said. “We need to be more patient with the ball and trust the process with the offense. We weren’t moving the ball as efficiently as we should have been in the second quarter…We are trying to prepare the best we can, we are familiar with (Wheeling Park) and Tuesday night should be a pretty good basketball game.”
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 71, Spring Mills 32
SM 6 14 0 12 – 32
MHS 28 12 21 10 – 71
SPRING MILLS — Homer 2 0-0 6, Ball 4 0-2 10, Bush 3 1-1 7, Henry 0 1-2 1, King 3 2-2 8.
MORGANTOWN — Jordan 6 8-11 20, Jones 6 4-8 18, Kellogg 8 1-2 19, Wassick 1 3-6 5, Smith 1 2-2 5, Howell 1 0-0 3, Hatcher 0 1-2 1.
3-Pt goals — Morgantown 6 (Kellogg 2 Jones 2 Smith 1 Howell 1); Spring Mills 4 (Homer 2, Ball 2).
