Wheeling Park Weathers Strong JM Start, Rolls To 16-1
Pressure Defense Sparks Three Scoring Runs In 93-57 Win
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WHEELING - When you're No. 1 in anything you can expect every opponent to give you everything it has. That is what occurred Thursday night high atop the Friendly City.
Wheeling Park, the top-ranked Class AAAAA girls' basketball team in West Virginia, weathered a strong start by rival John Marshall, but used a trio of huge scoring runs on its way to a 93-57 repeat victory inside the 'Palace on the Hill' inside Wheeling Park High School. The hosts won 79-36 earlier this season in Moundsville.
The Monarchs (13-6) started on an 8-4 run before Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young called full time out. When the visitors went up 12-10 three minutes later, Young burned a 30-second timeout.
"I kind of had a feeling that at some point in the season we were going to start a game off slow, especially on the defensive end tonight," Young said. "That's where I was disappointed ... really all night as we let (Kaitlyn) Blake score down low an awful lot, but give her credit, she's a great player when she gets the ball down low."
The brief, but stern, talk seemed to sink in as the Patriots (16-1) went on a 16-2 run, sparked by their fullcourt in-your-face press that forced numerous turnovers, to lead 26-17 at the end of the first quarter.
Leading 36-27 with three minutes left in the first half, Wheeling Park reeled off 15 of the next 17 markers as the margin ballooned to 51-29 at the half.
"I didn't think we did a good job of matching up with them in man-to-man as (Kayli) Derrow and (Rilee) Storm both played well early on," Young added. "I didn't think our energy level was there so we went to our run-and-jump press.
"We know that every team we play is going to give us their best shot. That's to be expected," Young continued. "We've been playing so well for a while now, but, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I still don't think we are anywhere near our ceiling
The final dagger was a 24-6 spurt to begin the third quarter and boosted the advantage to 40 points at 75-35.
Sophomore Alexis Bordas paced a well-balanced scoring attack for Wheeling Park with 20 points as five players reached twin figures. Bordas also stuffed the state sheet with half-a-dozen steals, three assists and a like number of rebounds. Classmate LaLa Woods added 19 points, eight steals and seven helpers, while senior Sophie Abraham added 17 points. Junior Merritt Delk finished with a career-high 15 lightings and grabbed six boards. Junior Natalie Daugherty contributed 10 points, five steals, four assists and four caroms.
"We had 26 steals and 19 assists as a team," Young pointed out. "Those are both pretty good numbers, and then to have five players with 10-or-more points. That's a pretty good night."
John Marshall had a trio of double-digit scorers in sophomore Kaitlyn Blake who scored a game-high 23. Freshman Rilee Storm added 18 and junior Kayli Derrow finished with a dozen as the trio netted all but four of their team's points. Blake completed a double-double with 11 rebounds.
"They played better than us. We played hard but they make the game chaotic at times and we didn't handle it," John Marshall head coach Brock Melko said. "I was proud of how my team handled themselves, regardless of the score. As long as we handle ourselves with class, I'm happy with that."
Wheeling Park will host Buckhannon-Upshur Saturday afternoon on Senior Day before hosting Warren Local in an OVAC Class 5A Tournament semifinal on Monday night. John Marshall hosts Dover on Monday in an OVAC Consolation contest.