Wheeling Park girls win state basketball championship
Park Overpowers Morgantown to capture first crown since 1999
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CHARLESTON — Wheeling Park vs. Morgantown has been a fixture at the state tournament the last four years, and each time leading up to Saturday's Class AAAA state championship game, the Mohigans had gotten the better of the Patriots, first in the quarterfinals in 2021, then in the semifinals in 2022, then in the state championship game in 2023.
This year's title game was a rematch of the last, but for Park, the fourth time was the charm.
The Wheeling Park Patriots "got over the hump" Saturday against the Mohigans, raising a state championship trophy after a 65-51 victory.
"Somebody had to come out on the short end here and usually it's been us the past four years," Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young said. "We really kind of owed them, I think, and these kids, these seniors were the difference. Lala and Lex being juniors now, Seneca being a sophomore, I've talked about this all year with these kids as far as that being the difference. [Daugherty], she was awesome today, she didn't score a lot yesterday [vs. Huntington], I told her she needed to, and she answered the bell. That's a four-year varsity player that really was just great.
"You talk about Lex for the whole tournament, that's one for the ages, I don't know how many performances were better than that through three days. Lala was just awesome, from the way she led us the first two games, being the floor general, to today getting early foul trouble, it's hard coming off the bench after sitting for a quarter like that. She responded."
Alexis Bordas scored 22 points on 53.3% shooting to lead the Patriots, while Natalie Daugherty scored 19, going 3-6 from the 3-point line. Jillian Huffman scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Lala Woods scored eight with four assists and four steals after sitting out almost the whole first quarter with two fouls.
Young stressed the team effort that went into a state championship.
"We talk about those three a lot and we should, but those other kids– Jillian Huffman was just great today, couldn't be more proud of her and how she finished the game. Seneca Heller, all over the place. She struggled a couple of times around the rim in the tournament, shots she usually makes. She finally got one to fall and she never looked back. I think it kind of sparked her.
"Merrit, coming off the bench, just incredible, I was glad we got our other senior Ryleigh Hicks in at the end, she's a special kid and a special player too."
Both teams struggled to score out of the gate, a common theme during the state tournament, and the game remained scoreless for nearly three minutes following the opening tip. But through the initial offensive dryspell Morgantown stayed one step ahead of Park, leading by a handful of points until late in the first, where the Patriots combined a 3-pointer from Natalie Daugherty and an and-one lay-in by Merritt Delk to take a 12-7 lead, their first lead in the game. 12-7 is where things stood at quarters' end.
After Morgantown and Park combined to shoot 21.4% in the first quarter, the switch flipped in the second, the two teams shooting 16-31, 51.6%, collectively. Wheeling Park jumped out by as much as 11, leading 26-15 with 2:46 to play, but Morgantown's Kayli Kellogg thrust the score back to a near-tie with three 3-point shots in the final minute before half– including a stepback long ball that swished with four seconds in the quarter. Park still led 29-28, but Morgantown had seized some measure of momentum heading into the locker room.
"They were starting to get a little lead and our offense wasn't generating as we needed it, so I had to step up and credit to my teammates, they set good screens and got me looks," Kellogg said.
Momentum comes and goes, and the third quarter was a pendulum between the two rivals. Park started the frame on a 12-4 run to stretch their lead to 10, 42-32, capped by a 3-pointer from Alexis Bordas with 5:13 on the clock. Much like the second quarter though, the Mohigans finished strong, and four more points from Kayli Kellogg to end the quarter had the Patriots lead at five, 46-41.
Kellogg scored 22 points for Morgantown, going 4-4 from the 3-point line and the foul in an efficient day.
Another fast start to a quarter thrust Park ahead 55-41 behind seven points by Alexis Bordas, but this time, Morgantown rebuttal wouldn't draw them as close, the Patriot lead never going lower than 12 before the clock struck zeros and the celebration was on.
"The kids played incredible two, three minutes of basketball at the start of the fourth quarter," Young said.
After the game, Bordas and Lala Woods were awarded All-Tournament team selections, and Bordas was named Class AAAA Tournament MVP
"Just kind of going in knowing that I wanted this more than anything, I really wanted to win," Bordas said of the keys to her performance. "All year that's been my goal so just to come out and stay focused all week. I've shot a lot of shots leading up to this week so I was pretty confident in that way. My teammates give me great passes, coach Young set me up for great positions, and I converted and I'm so happy that we won."
Kellogg and Sofia Wassick were on the All-Tournament team for Morgantown.
After falling in the state championship game against Morgantown last season, hoisting the trophy meant that much more to the Patriots
"It's relieving," Young said. "Because you lost last year in the finals, you come back, and it's Morgantown again. They never go away. It's like; are we going to be able to get over the hump this year?"
"I sat here last year and I told them sometimes you have to lose that last one to come back and get over the hump. Morgantown the year before lost in the finals, they came back and beat us, and I knew that could be us this year and it was."
It was a steady climb to the top for the Patriots seniors– Daugherty, Huffman and Delk– making it deeper and deeper into the state playoffs year-over-year until finally reaching the mountaintop in their final season.
"It feels really good because my freshman year we were in the quarterfinals, then the semi finals, then we lost in the championship last year, all to the same team in three years, so it feels really good to finally beat them in the championship my senior year," Daugherty said.
"They're walking away as state champs, and you can't take that away from them," Young said.