Wheeling Park Advances To OVAC Final
Patriots shut out JM in first quarter
WHEELING -- The Wheeling Park girls' basketball team will have the chance to repeat as OVAC 5A Champions on Saturday.
The top-seeded Patriots earned that opportunity on Monday night as they quieted No. 4 John Marshall 77-29 inside The Palace on the Hill.
Park will take on Morgantown in the final with the two teams already splitting two thrillers so far this season, which included a triple overtime win by the Patriots.
"The OVAC title is definitely on our goal board," Park coach Ryan Young said. "We're excited about the opportunity to go there and play Morgantown. Anytime we have a chance to win over Morgantown it's big to us. There is going to be a lot more on the line than just an OVAC title. It will probably determine who gets home court in the sectional. They will be ready, especially after the way the last one ended here. This will be just another chapter in the Morgantown vs. Park rivalry, so we'll see what happens."
Leading the way for Park in the semifinal was standout freshman Alexis Bordas with 16 points, along with junior Sophie Abraham with 14 points, sophomore Natalie Daugherty with 11, junior Naliah Lekanudos with nine and sophomore Jillian Huffman with eight.
Kaitlyn Blake was solid for the Monarchs with 16 points, while Kayli Derrow netted four.
Park was in control from the start as it shut out JM 18-0 in the first quarter and jumped out to a 20-0 cushion before the Monarchs got on the board just over a minute into the second quarter.
"Our two keys were live ball turnovers and half court defense," JM coach Brock Melko said. "We knew we were going to be trapped but the killer against them is when you have live ball turnovers and they go and score two points. We started off the game terribly with that. We can help our half court defense if we don't hand them free points but that's where we hurt ourselves more than anything and that was our bugaboo."
Another 10-2 run by the Patriots increased the lead in the second as they led 45-13 at the break.
"We have to be happy with our defensive effort in the first quarter," Young said.
"We man-pressed in the first and did a little zone. We had some kids come off the bench, we got a lot of steals and were active defensively."
Despite the big halftime deficit, Melko knew limiting mistakes and keeping it a low-scoring game was his team's best shot.
"They are very good and their pressure forced us into a lot of turnovers," Melko said. "We weren't ourselves from the start. We weren't doing anything that we wanted to do. We tried to drive that point home at halftime and in the third quarter we showed ourselves that we could slow them down. If we have a chance to beat them, we'll have to have a game in the 40's."
The Monarchs followed Melko's advice and limited Park to only nine points in the third before the Patriots once again got back into a rhythm to finish it in the fourth.
"We were a little sluggish in the third quarter," Young said. "Now, we'll have several days this week to fix some things and prepare for Morgantown."