MORGANTOWN – After trailing 49-40 entering the fourth quarter, the Morgantown High School girls basketball team outscored Laurel Highlands 15-4 across the final eight minutes to earn a tough one-possession victory 55-53.
The Mohigans turned their defensive effort into success in the fourth, including earning multiple stops in the game’s final minute as the Mustangs tried to find a basket.
MHS sophomore Kayli Kellogg led the game with 26 points, combining with senior Sadaya Jones for 43 of 55 points, with Jones adding 17.
“We just calmed down,” MHS head coach John Fowkes said. “That’s really what allowed us to do what we did in the fourth quarter. The girls returned to being themselves and simply let us coach them through the fourth quarter. We drew our stuff up and ran it, and you saw the result in the fourth. We didn’t follow our game plan in the first three quarters as we needed to, and it got us in a hole. I’m proud to see us fight like that, as we haven’t had that sort of test yet.”
Morgantown (4-0) held a one-point advantage after the first quarter, as both teams struggled shooting. A combined effort of 9 for 28 saw the Mohigans ahead 14-13.
Laurel Highlands senior Ariyanna Sumpter then took over the game in the second, scoring at will on the low block and disrupting the MHS offense. The Mustangs held the Mohigans scoreless through the opening two minutes of the second quarter and built a 21-16 lead midway through.
Jones hit a triple, and Kellogg scored a tough layup to tie the game, but Laurel Highlands responded with two baskets.
The Mustangs (3-2) threatened an extended lead at the halftime break but Carper Messerly nailed a corner three at the buzzer to cut the lead to 30-28.
Sumpter scored 18 of her 20 points in the first half but left the game with an injury two minutes into the third quarter. The Mustangs didn’t let the loss hurt them and outscored MHS 19-12 in the third to take a nine-point lead into the final frame.
“It’s something you never want to see with either team as far as an injury,” Fowkes said. “I think it played a role in the game, but they didn’t let it impact them that much at first. They have some tough players inside and on the perimeter. I thought some of our bench players, like Sydney Porter and Carper Messerly, gave good minutes off the bench for us in the second half, too.”
Freshman Sydney Deusenberry, who has started every game for MHS so far, only scored two points. However, they came on a layup that cut the lead to one point, 51-50, with 3:45 to play. She also earned five rebounds in the contest, three of which were offensive.
“I keep telling people that she (Deusenberry) is only 14 years old, but on the court, she plays like an upperclassman,” Fowkes said. “Most of what she did tonight won’t be on the stat sheet, but how she impacted the game was huge for us. Our young players are getting good experience early and will continue improving.”
Jones gave MHS a 52-51 lead on a layup with two minutes to play. Laurel Highlands matched to take the lead back, but Kellogg followed with a tough finish from close range to pull MHS ahead again, 54-53.
The Mohigans saved their best defensive possessions for the final moments, denying Laurel Highlands the go-ahead basket on three straight possessions in the final 90 seconds of the game.
Kellogg split a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds left, and the Mustangs’ final attempt was blocked as time expired.
“We needed this game in a sense,” Fowkes said. “We’ve enjoyed some big wins so far in the first week or so of the season, and I think we needed to prove to ourselves that we can be whatever kind of team we need to be in any given game.”
Morgantown will travel to face No. 3 Wheeling Park on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
BOX SCORE
Laurel Highlands 13 17 19 4 – 53
Morgantown 14 14 12 15 – 55
Laurel Highlands (3-2) – Sumpter 9 2-3 20 Jenkins 4 3-3 11 Harris 3 3-4 9 Schwertfeger 3 0-0 7 Irwin 2 1-2 6
Morgantown (4-0) Kellogg 8 8-10 26 Jones 6 4-10 17 Porter 2 0-0 4 Messerly 1 1-2 4 Hatcher 1 0-0 2 Deusenberry 1 0-0 2
3pt goals made – Laurel Highlands 2 (Schwerfager 1 Irwin 1); Morgantown 4 (Kellogg 2 Messerly 1 Jones 1)
