MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In just about every walk of life, and definitely in the run and gun, surge and sprint world of basketball, there simply is no substitute for the wisdom and patience that comes with experience.
On Thursday, the University girls basketball team — five seniors strong — possessed nearly all the experience, while home-standing Morgantown, with no seniors at all, has not yet acquired much at all, and the resulting 46-30 Hawks’ victory was perhaps mostly a reflection of those precious accumulated varsity minutes.
UHS (3-1) got on top early in the first quarter with aggressive play within both its offensive and defensive half-court sets, forcing seven MHS turnovers. Trailing 26-10 midway through the second quarter, Morgantown (1-3) seemed passive on offense and desperately needed a spark to keep the game within reach, and it came in the form of the 1950’s era, sweet set-shot marksmanship of swingwoman Kerrington Peasak, whose feet didn’t leave the floor but whose three long baskets — including consecutive 3-pointers — lifted the young Mohigans back to within single digits at 26-18 at the half.
Coming out of the break, the game hovered around the same 10-point Hawks’ advantage, although Morgantown settled in defensively and even maintained possession for a long, three-minute stretch midway through the third. But all they could accomplish was getting UHS into some team foul trouble, so University entered the final frame up by 11, 34-23.
But Mohigans guard Cat Wassick knocked down a big 3 from the corner to cap a 7-2 run, and the lead shrunk to 36-30 with 4:40 left.
UHS senior Mallory Napolillo, who had been battling tall, talented Mohigans big Kaitlyn Ammons all night in the paint, and hadn’t scored a single point. After a timeout, in the next 1:11, Napolillo calmly drilled an open jumper from the top of the key, forced a turnover, picked up a rebound stick-back lay-in to restore the lead back to 10, and then a minute later dropped in another field goal to all but ice it for the Hawks, as they cruised down the stretch for the 16-point win.
“It was the key point in the game,” UHS coach David Price said. “They had all the momentum, and Mallory had been pretty frustrated on the offensive end. But she stuck with it, didn’t force things and when it was her time to shine, she let the game come to her and she got the job done. She’s someone we count on every night, and that showed you why.”
Ashten Boggs led the Hawks with 19 points, and Abbie Coen hit for 14 as well, while Peasak paced the Mohigans with 11.
While both Price and MHS coach Jason White mentioned that their teams were still learning how to play together during the season’s early stages, White admitted that his team’s learning curve is significant compared to previous years at Morgantown, simply due to a lack of varsity experience.
“We had moments where we let the moment get too big for us, and we panicked,” he said. “Even though we have juniors who’ve played for us before, they were complimentary pieces to a bunch of seniors. Now they are in much bigger roles, playing with some girls who’ve hardly had any time at this level. And you simply cannot replicate in practice the intensity of a rivalry game like this. The only way to get through the growing pains is to do it.
“I loved the way we played our way back into it, and gave ourselves a chance,” he continued. “I know that we can be better, if we learn from our mistakes, learn to be aggressive and continue to work together. It will come — as long as we aren’t making the same mistakes two months from now. And it’s our job as coaches to make sure we don’t. I’m excited about what we can become.”
Morgantown hosts Musselman Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., while the Hawks are off until next Thursday when they play at home against Wheeling Park at 7:30 p.m.
