Photo by Josh Strope Wheeling Park senior Emily Pavlic cuts down the net following the Patriots’ 44-35 victory against Morgantown in W.Va. Class AAA Region One Co-Final. The victory sends Wheeling Park to the state tournament for the third straight season.

WHEELING — Wheeling Park is headed back to Charleston.There is an old saying that “it is hard to beat a team three times in one season” and that definitely held true Tuesday night at the Palace on the Hill.

But Wheeling Park showed its toughness in the fourth quarter, hit big shots, forced key turnovers and made its free throws to earn a hard-fought 44-35 victory against Morgantown to earn a spot in next week’s West Virginia State Girls’ Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

It is the third straight season the Patriots (18-5) have qualified. Wheeling Park will be the No. 4 seed and will play No. 5 South Charleston at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, March 7.

“We definitely have had some shaky times this year, but in the past month we started practicing a little better, starting gelling a little bit better and I think we are playing well at the right time,” Wheeling Park coach Ryan Young said. “We didn’t have our best game in the sectional final and I thought we would come back and play well (Tuesday).

“I give Morgantown a ton of credit. They played a great basketball game. It was a great basketball game. Good, playoff basketball. Both sides had a lot of energy and both sides did enough to win. We just made a couple more plays in the end than they did.”

Park swept the season series against Morgantown (14-11), but the Mohigans didn’t make it easy.

Every time the Patriots felt they were pulling away, the Mohigans would storm right back in it.

Case in point: Early in the fourth, with Park holding a 31-24 lead and the basketball, Shanley Woods missed a 3-pointer that would would have given Park a commanding double-digit lead.

Instead, it was Morgantown’s Kaitlyn Ammons that hit a 3-pointer on the other end, a six-point swing.

The Mohigans closed to within one point at 32-31 following a Madison Seman basket midway through the fourth.

Woods came up with a big 3-pointer to stretch the lead to four points with 4:24 showing.

Kerrington Peasak banked in a shot on the other end to bring it back to one possession.

On the ensuing Park possession, Bella Abernathy drained a shot from the top of the key to make it 37-33.

It was the last field goal scored by either team.

Morgantown had chances to cut into the lead but missed multiple shots, despite good looks at 3s.

“They weren’t exactly the greatest shots we’d like to be running at that time, but you can’t be picky as the clock is coming down like that,” Morgantown coach Jason White said.

Wheeling Park kept Morgantown at bay with solid free-throw shooting. During the final minute, the Patriots went 6 of 10 at the line, including hitting the front end of three 1-and-1s.

“We had a pretty good game plan and I thought we executed it really well,” White said. “It just seemed like every time we needed a bucket after we closed the gap, we’d turn it over. Untimely turnovers shot us in the foot. But I am proud of my kids. They are disciplined and their attention to detail, their focus this week was good.

“We knew it was going to be a tall task. Park is a really good team and they can really shoot the basketball. We did a good job on Pavlic and Woods, but they had one little run. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Wheeling Park forced 20 Morgnatown turnovers and the Patriots led by as many as nine late in the third quarter following a Woods 3-pointer, before Morgantown can crawling back.

Woods led all scorers with 18 points coming off six 3-pointers. She was the only Park player in double figures.

“She did a great job of squaring up and releasing quick,” Young said. “And I thought all our kids did a great job on finding on screens to get her open. When she works hard to get open like that, and we pay attention to detail like that to get her open, it is an effective offense.”

Sydni Clawges led Morgantown with 15 points.

The state tournament begins Wednesday, March 6 at the Charleston Civic Center with the top two seeds in Class AAA playing the bottom two seeds. The No. 3-6 teams will meet on Thursday.

“Parkersburg is clearly the favorite and it is going to be whoever can get there to play Parkersburg,” Young said. “We are going down there with high expectations. We feel like we are one of the more experienced teams going down there. Why not us? Why not put together a string of games and see what happens?”