photo by: Kim North

Wheeling Park’s K’Lyn Neider (2) passes the ball to teammate Italy Schroeder during action from Thursday night’s game against University inside the ‘Palace on the Hill.” The Patriots dropped a 56-53 decision to the Hawks.

WHEELING – Basketball is a game of runs. University ended all four quarters with a run, the last giving it a 56-53 decision over Wheeling Park in girls’ high school basketball action Thursday night inside the ‘Palace on the Hill’ at Wheeling Park High School.

The Hawks (4-1) trailed 53-52 after the Patriots’ Italy Schroeder drilled her third trifecta of the game, but a 4-0 run over the final 27 seconds allowed the visitors to secure the victory in a sloppily played game that featured a total of 43 turnovers, with the Patriots having 23.

“The biggest thing we’ve been trying to do is get the girls to compete, and I think we finally did that tonight,” Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young said of his young crew which started two freshmen, a sophomore and a pair of juniors. “Did we make a lot of mistakes? Yes. We made a lot as coaches and they made a lot of mistakes as players, but you’ll have that with a young team.

“I was really proud of our effort.”

Wheeling Park (0-3), which lost nearly 5,000 career points (4,986) to graduation, watched University end the first quarter on a 6-0 run, use an 8-0 run to lead 29-22 at the half and a 7-0 run in taking a 39-29 advantage after three quarters.

However, the Patriots scored 24 points in a frenetic fourth quarter that saw junior Karringtyn Miller erupt for 16 of her team-high 21 points, which included six triples – three coming in the final eight minutes.

“Karringtyn really stepped up there with the game on the line,” Young noted. “We’ve been looking for a player to do that. I thought everyone made some type of contribution tonight, especially in a tight game with nerves and such.”

Trailing by 10 entering the final panel, the Patriots drew even on a conventional three-point play by Jalayiah Broomes with 78 seconds remaining. The Hawks took a 52-50 lead on a pair of free throws from Brianna Fox, but Schroeder’s three put the hosts ahead for the first time since it led 10-9 in the opening quarter.

However, it just wasn’t meant to be.

“We had way too many turnovers once again,” Young said. “If we cut that number down, we probably win that game, but that’s an area that we need to improve and work on.”

In addition to Miller’s 21, Jalyiah Broomes scored 11 off the bench and Schroeder finished with nine.

Brianna Fox led University with 21. Cheyanne Bischoff added 12 off the bench.

Schroeder grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Patriots to a 26-21 advantage.