Wheeling Park Storms Back, Tops Unbeaten Spring Mills
Patriots Rally From 19 Down; Sets Up 5th Meeting With Rival Morgantown
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CHARLESTON -- Give Lala Woods credit. After Wheeling Park fell behind No. 5 Spring Mills (21-1) by 13 points going into the half with the team shooting a low 26 percent from the field, the sophomore kicked it into high gear in the third quarter to help lead the top-ranked Patriots over the challenging Cardinals, 59-51, in a W.Va. Class AAAA state semifinal inside the Charleston Coliseum.
Woods ended the matchup with a game-high 27 points and, with her energy, along with West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year Alexis Bordas scoring 20, the Patriots (25-2) rallied from a deficit that had reached 19 in the second quarter.
"We knew that was not a good half for us and that we had to come out with more energy than them," Woods said. "They had the energy going into the locker room and knew we had to come out and step on their throats. And that's what we were able to do."
Up next, the Patriots face Morgantown in the state title game Saturday morning, an OVAC and Region I rivalry supported by years of nail-biting matchups. Though he wants to focus on decompressing from the roller coaster semifinals, Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young shared his thoughts on seeing his rival in the championship.
"There aren't any secrets," he laughed. "We've had the advantage this year, they had the advantage last year. If you go back the past six years you can see (it's) back and forth. A couple of years ago we beat them in the regional and ended their run to the state tournament and then ... they upset us at home (the next year). That's what a rivalry is. I doubt anybody in the state could create this kind of rivalry.
"We've had the upper hand but it doesn't mean anything come Saturday. Our kids are hungry. We want a state championship. We've earned this."
Tip in the Class 4A title game is set for 10 a.m.
"We knew if we kept playing like we were that we weren't going to win the game," Bordas said. "The goal is still a state championship so we had to change that. We always say win the third quarter and we'll win the game so we had to battle back. I think that third quarter was huge and the way our attitudes changed in the locker room was big."
Frustrated by his team's misfortunes in the first half, coach Ryan Young was very proud of his girls for collecting themselves to rally in the second half.
"It was a great basketball game," he said. "We started slow and Spring Mills did a great job of executing their game plan. They took us out of our game; defensively we weren't quite ourselves and offensively we had no rhythm. They even started beating us in transition which is not something we've had to deal with all year long, but the kids didn't panic. We were in a big hole and they rallied together."
The Patriots came out with force in the third period, outscoring the Cardinals 23-9 to retake the lead midway through the frame and cruised to a 45-44 lead going into the fourth. From there, they held off any attempts the Cardinals had until the clock read under a minute, doubling up Spring Mills 14-7 to close the game.
"We told ourselves we needed to take it one possession at a time," Young said. "They were making fun of me after the game because I said, 'You're not going to get it all back in a quarter,' but they did. They're a resilient group, and I thought the other thing that was special about it was that we haven't been in that situation. It's a testament to these kids, their character and the work they put in."
Part of the win came down to holding off freshman forward Reagan Edsell who had eight points and 11 rebounds in the first half. The Patriots only allowed her to find four more points and boxed her out all but six times in the final half. To Young, it wasn't about exploiting her weaknesses -- "It's hard to exploit weaknesses of a kid that just plays hard like her," Young said -- but rather came down to matching Edsell's physical energy.
"She's a gritty kid," Young added. "She gets after the basketball and we told the girls that's her game. She's very aggressive and you have to match her energy, you have to match her aggressiveness and I thought the one that was able to do that as the game went on was Merritt (Delk). That's why we trusted Merritt to stay out there and she did a great job on the rebounds."
Both Young and Spring Mills coach George Gosk noted rebounding in the second half flipped the game's script, as Delk picked up six of her 10 boards in the final half.
"Rebounds changed the game," Young said. "These kids can put the ball in the bucket and they'll get all the limelight for it but you've got to have those kids that are willing to do the little stuff and that's how your team wins."
"I thought the ball bounced their way a good bit in the second half and most of those rebounds came as kick-outs for open 3s that Wheeling Park was able to knock down," Gosk said.
On his freshman's performance, which saw her earn her final double-double of the season, Gosk said Edsell is "a monster" in the best way possible.
"All these young ladies are tough and Reagan was all over the glass tonight. I told them after the game that everybody laid it on the line. From top to bottom, as coaches and a staff you can't ask for any more from your kids and they did their jobs."
Edsell said it came down to having a tough mentality.
"I went into the game knowing I'm not the greatest scorer that we have, so I have to do my job. I think I'm fine with how I did," she said.
A bright spot for Gosk is that virtually the entire team returns, though he'll be losing Mya Griffin and Taylor McIntyre, both critical cogs in the Cardinals' machine. And, regardless of how it ended, the Cardinals (21-1) can hang their hat on another historic season.
"Extremely proud of these young ladies," Gosk said. "What a team, what a season. We came up a little short and would love to be there Saturday but it didn't happen for us. I'm not going to sell out our season, what a heck of a season. Somebody had to lose that game; we had a decent lead and shots didn't fall in the second half and they did. It's a tale of two halves and it's basketball."
To that point, sophomore Kilah Dandridge added 16 points, five rebounds and three assists and junior Corin Edsell tallied 11 points, five rebounds and three steals.