Wheeling Park Rallies Past Shadyside
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By BUBBA KAPRAL
Executive Sports Editor
CADIZ -- Wheeling Park and Shadyside met in the featured game of the second annual Wheeling Hospital Women's Health Holiday Classic at Harrison Central on Saturday afternoon.
The Patriots and Tigers did not disappoint in what turned out to be a tale of two halves.
Shadyside was the better of the two teams in the first half, taking a 33-25 lead into intermission. Park, however, flexed its muscles over the final 16 minutes, emerging with a hard-fought 60-54 win in a battle of hoop heavyweights.
Coach Ryan Young's charges improved to 7-0, having already bested quality big-school foes such as Parkersburg, Parkersburg South and University.
The Tigers dropped to 7-3. Coach Serge Gentile's squad has a quick and tough turnaround as the Tigers visit unbeaten Union Local on Monday.
Park junior standout Bella Abernathy made her presence felt in the paint. The 5-foot-10 post poured in a team-high 21 points, 13 coming after intermission. Senior guard Shanley Woods added 13 counters to the winning attack.
"We definitely looked like we were on a break (nine days between games) with how we played in the first half. Shadyside played hard and made shots early," Young said. "They got us out of our zone defense and we had to play man, and we had more success with that. Tory (Hendershot) and Baylee (Wach) attacked the hoop and we had a hard time staying in front of them.
"We don't practice man defense much. It was tough game (Saturday). Shadyside is a very good team. We were down 13 points in the first half, so I will take it."
Wach, an All-Ohioan as a sophomore, fueled a fast Shadyside start, pouring in eight points, including two treys, as the Tigers grabbed an 18-10 lead at the quarter pole. The Tigers continued their fine play in the second quarter, using a Brooke Selmon trey to build their biggest lead of the day at 25-12 with less than three minutes left in the opening half.
Park received four buckets from Jai'lah Walker to close the margin to 33-25 at halftime. Hendershot, who does a lot of everything for the Tigers, netted seven points in the second quarter.
The Patriots methodically chipped away at the Shadyside advantage in the third quarter, eventually taking the lead at 43-42 on another Walker bucket at the 2:10 mark of the third. Park exploded for 24 points in the third period in gaining a 49-46 edge entering the fourth.
The game remained tight until the final horn with Park going into delay mode with three minutes to play, leading 56-52. Abernathy scored at the 1:25 mark to stretch the Patriot lead to six before Wach countered with a goal to make it 58-54 with 31.5 ticks left.
Woods iced the verdict with two free throws with just 14.6 seconds to play.
"We played pretty well. The effort was there," Gentile said. "There are just some little things that happened in the course of the game that hurt us. Obviously, they made more plays than us in the end. We may have gotten a little tired.
"No one likes to lose or hang their hats on moral victories. I think we are starting to play better because we didn't play well at the start of the season. We like games like this because it challenges us and puts us in pressure situations. If we continue to give the effort we gave (Saturday), we are going to be just fine."
Park received stellar bench play from Walker and senior dynamo Abby Snedeker. Walker delivered 10 key points while Snedeker supplied the hustle and energy as the sixth man the Patriots were severely lacking before she entered the contest.
"I told the kids the target is on our back," Young said. "We need to do a better job of being prepared from the beginning, and that starts with me."
Park returns to action Jan. 7 at Morgantown.
Shadyside committed 15 turnovers. Park had 10 miscues.