MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Strong defensive play allowed Morgantown to build an early double-digit lead, and the Mohigans produced several late timely stops to hold off Wheeling Park, 42-39, and prolong their unbeaten start to the season Tuesday night.
Mohigans’ point guard Sofia Wassick broke a 39-all tie on a layup with 2:45 remaining and it proved to be the final field goal of the game. Lindsay Bechtel made 1-of-2 free throws to up the Morgantown (6-0) lead to three in the final minute, before Bechtel came up with the defensive play of the game, blocking the Patriots’ Alexis Bordas on a tying 3-point attempt in the final seconds to preserve the Mohigans’ win.
“Our kids did a great job battling some adversity,” MHS head coach Jason White said. “To lose a 15-point lead, a lot of teams would fold in that moment, but it shows a lot out of a young team to stand in there, come right back and answer.”
The Mohigans led for nearly the entirety of the contest, holding Wheeling Park (6-1) to one first-quarter field goal and rattling off 13 unanswered points to build a double-digit lead after the Patriots’ Zariah Marling opened the scoring with a basket in the paint.
One free throw from Naliah Lekanudos provided WPHS with its only other point of the opening quarter and it was answered by a conventional three-point play from Sadaya Jones that allowed Morgantown to lead 16-3 entering the second quarter.
Ten of Wheeling Park’s 15 first-half turnovers occurred in the opening quarter.
“I know this is our seventh game of the season, but we have some really young kids and it showed at the beginning of the game against a team that pressures you like Morgantown,” Park coach Ryan Young said. “This is a great learning experience. We have 15 turnovers in the first half, they built that lead. Natalie Daugherty got in foul trouble and we had a lot of things going against us.”
Morgantown held a 23-9 lead at the midway point of the second quarter, before the Patriots put together a strong stretch to trim their deficit to 10 points at halftime. Merritt Delk began that surge with three-point play, and after consecutive field goals from Lily Jordan, the Patriots scored the final five points of the half on Bordas’ triple and two Jai’lah Walker free throws.
Wheeling Park outscored Morgantown 12-3 over the final 5:42 of the third quarter to turn an 11-point deficit into a 33-31 game. Lala Woods scored five points during that stretch, while Marling contributed four and Bordas three, allowing the Patriots to get as close as they’d been since 4-2.
Park tied the game at 33 and 35 early in the fourth, before taking its first and only second-half lead, 37-35, with 5:59 remaining on a pair of Daugherty free throws.
“We took some silly shots in the second and third quarters that led to their break, and we bailed them out and put them on the foul line when we probably shouldn’t have,” White said. “They’re too good of an offensive team to give them points at the foul line like that.”
Kate Hawkins answered with two straight baskets to put Morgantown in front by two, before Daugherty scored on a drive to the basket to tie it at 39 and set the stage for the finish.
“I will say this about the young kids — they didn’t hang their heads, the bench played great and they fought all the way back,” Young said. “That’s all I can really ask for. As far as the end of the game, that has to be better from my standpoint. We haven’t been in that situation.
“I’m not disappointed in the game. I’m obviously disappointed with the result, but I’m pretty happy with the way we played.”
Wassick led MHS with nine points and four assists.
“Wassick controls the game so well,” Young said. “We know what she likes to do and it’s still difficult to defend.”
Jones scored eight to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Jordan also scored eight in the victory.
Woods led Park with nine points, Marling scored eight and Walker grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the losing effort.
Bordas was held to six after scoring 50 over the weekend in a victory over Parkersburg South.
The Patriots finished with 18 turnovers, committing only three over the final two quarters.
Morgantown overcame 20 turnovers to avoid its first loss.
“Our defense out of the gates was really good,” White said. “We communicated really well.”