Wheeling Park Starts Fast, Advances Past Big Red
Andrew Grimm Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- Showing why AP voters earlier in the day voted it No. 1 in West Virginia's largest division, Wheeling Park came out flying in Monday's OVAC Class 5A semifinal and was in control from start to finish.
The Patriots, who entered the conference tournament as a very deceiving No. 3 seed, scored 17 of the first 20 points and led by 21 after one quarter on the way to an impressive 75-43 semifinal win at No. 2 seed Big Red inside the Crimson Center.
"We knew coming in it was going to be a battle, we understood what they were capable of," Big Red head coach Angie Forte said. "They did not change their gameplan at all, they did what they do and came out and executed very well.
"We were just outmatched (Monday). We played hard, we were just out-matched. They won all the 50-50 balls, they got the bounce around rebounds and we didn't."
Reigning W.Va. Player of the Year Alexis Bordas was as good as advertised, leading all scorers with 27 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing four assists.
She was one of four Patriots to reach double digits as Lala Woods, also an all-stater, netted 18 points with six boards, Natalie Daugherty added 16 points, five assists and five rebounds and Jillian Huffman tallied 11 points while dishing six assists and leading Park with nine boards.
"We got the scoring contributions we normally do from Lex and Lala, Natalie and Jillian were in double figures," Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young said. "I thought Seneca Heller did a good job, she was in foul trouble early and led us in assists and set the tone defensively. Merritt Delk was also up there on the assist chart, those are two kids that we don't talk about a lot that make a big difference for us.
"Everybody was doing something to contribute. The kids all played well and played hard"
The Patriots started on a 7-1 run, which quickly swelled to 17-3 before the score was 26-5 after the first eight minutes.
Big Red got some offense going in the second quarter, scoring seven-straight to get within 14 at one point, but Park went on a 15-4 run in the third quarter to take away any doubt about the outcome headed to the fourth quarter -- Bordas hitting two of her three triples and scoring eight-straight on the run for Park.
"We jumped on them in the first quarter," Young said. "I give Steubenville a lot of credit, they came right back in the second quarter and outscored us. They're a good team, a well-coached team. They're very athletic, they're physical. It was a good test for us.
"I thought it was real big for us to respond in that third quarter. When you look up at the score and it's gone from 26-5 to them being within 14 … they did a real good job of responding."
For Big Red, the deep early hole against an opponent like Park was simply just too much to completely recover from. In addition to offensive struggles early, Big Red committed eight of their 17 turnovers in the opening quarter aiding the Patriots big early push.
"We had way too many key turnovers, we didn't handle their pressure very well and we gave them a lot of second-chance opportunities off the boards," Forte said. "That was coupled with us not having a very good night shooting.
"When you're playing a team like that, you have to take advantage of any small opportunity you get because, if you don't, they're going to. We didn't take advantage and they did."
Nylah McShan led Big Red with 17 points and added six rebounds, while Aniyah Warner tallied eight points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Madalyn Criss hit a pair of treys and also finished with eight points.
"It's a loss we can learn from at this point in the season," Forte said. "I hope it pushes and propels the girls into the tournament. This gives us things to work on and improve on for the tournament."
The Patriots will meet Morgantown, the top seed, for the third and likely not the last time this season in Saturday's Class 5A championship game at Harrison Central. The teams, both ranked in the top five in W.Va. 4A, have split a pair of meetings this season. The Mohigans defeated Parkersburg South, 61-48, at home in the other semifinal on Monday.
Big Red will meet Parkersburg South in the third-place consolation game on the road on Thursday.