Maroon Knights Capture Regional Title
The Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights, pictured with their W.Va. Class A Region I championship plaque after beating the Parkersburg Catholic Crusaders, 63-49, in the regional co-final. The Knights were assigned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Class A state tournament, to be held in Charleston.
Nick Henthorn
The Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights, pictured with their W.Va. Class A Region I championship plaque after beating the Parkersburg Catholic Crusaders, 63-49, in the regional co-final. The Knights were assigned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Class A state tournament, to be held in Charleston.
Nick Henthorn
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WHEELING – Next stop: Charleston.
Wheeling Central punched its ticket into next week's WVSSAC Class AA State Girls' Basketball Tournament via a 63-49 regional co-final win over Parkersburg Catholic Wednesday night on Skip Prosser Court.
The Lady Knights improved to 16-8 on the campaign. Coach Roberta Olejasz's charges will enter the state tourney as the No. 3 seed. They will face sixth-seeded Morgantown Trinity Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in the quarterfinals.
The Maroon's state-berth clinching triumph came about on the strength of an outstanding effort from junior standout Kaitlyn Blake to go with solid contributions from a host of Knights. Blake poured in a game-high 29 points, snared 13 rebounds and recorded a handful of steals. The 5-10 dandy tallied Central's first 14 points.
"Kaitlyn is able to score in a lot of ways. She really stepped it up tonight," Olejasz said. "She battled through some foul problems but she was key for us with 14 straight points. She had another great night."
The Knights had to battle through some first-half foul issues as Blake and sophomore rebounding machine Haley Severns both picked up two fouls in the early going. Parkersburg Catholic, which bowed out with a 15-9 record, took advantage and grabbed an 11-7 lead after one quarter.
The Knights, however, weathered the storm and bounced back to take a 22-19 halftime lead.
Central's offense began to hit on all cylinders in the second half, getting scoring from six players. The Maroon exploded for 25 points in the third quarter, stretching their lead to 47-38 entering the fourth quarter.
The Knights' savvy backcourt delivered much of the damage. Rising sophomore Addie Payton meshed eight points in the frame while senior ace Brooklyn Edge added five.
Central methodically pulled away over the course of the final eight minutes. Payton delivered a trey followed by another bucket, the latter coming with just over four minutes to play, pushing the Maroon bulge to 54-40. That set the stage for the Knights' delay game with Edge efficiently killing the clock.
Payton was Blake's top support with 14 points while Edge, who missed much of the season with a leg injury, donated eight points and loads of floor leadership. Severns was able to grab nine boards despite limited time due to her foul problems.
"We are 9-0 with Brooklyn in the lineup. She means so much to this team," Olejasz noted. "Haley came up big again on the boards despite those fouls. She is a relentless rebounder.
"Addie is getting better and better. She hit some big shots," added the former Wheeling Central hoop star. "Bella (Fitzsimmons and Mariah (Ratcliffe) also did good things. It was a great team win."
Central was somewhat sloppy taking care of the ball, committing 16 turnovers.
Senior guard Jocelyn Thorn paced Parkersburg Catholic with 18 points. Sophomore Seneca Lang and senior Isabella DeAngelo each chipped in with 10 counters.
The Crusaderettes were guilty of 17 turnovers.
"We beat a good team tonight. They have nice talent," Olejasz offered. "Our goal every year is to get to the state tournament and win the title. We are three wins away from that."