MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown girls’ basketball team suffered their first loss of the season Saturday against what might be the toughest team they play this year in South Fayette out of Pittsburgh. South Fayette beat MHS 58-31 in the opener of the second day of the Littler General Holiday Classic inside the Rowdie Center.
“This will be one of the top teams we’ll play this year,” confirmed MHS coach Doug Goodwin. “They’re a very good team, they’re athletic as can be and out-hustled us to a lot of loose balls.”
South Fayette led by two points after the first quarter and 11 at halftime, but held MHS to just one field goal and five points in the second half in the runaway victory.
“We just weren’t very efficient executing our offense today, that’s for sure,” Goodwin said. “They out-rebounded us like crazy on the boards, second-chance opportunities weren’t really there for us.”
Only two players scored for the Mohigans, Lily Jordan who led the team with 18 points and Sofia Wassick who finished with 13.
South Fayette only led 17-15 after one quarter but pushed that lead to 37-26 by halftime. It was all Lions after the break as they outscored their hosts 13-3 in the third quarter and 8-2 in the fourth.
South Fayette is led by a pair of Division I recruits in Maddie Webber (Villanova) and Ava Leroux (Elon). Webber scored a game-high 23 points with three three-pointers. Leroux, daughter of former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Francois Leroux, scored all 10 of her points in the second half. Ryan Oldaker finished second on the team with 16 points, also making a trio of threes.
MHS won’t have much time to dwell on its first loss with two important matches against regional opponents coming next week.
“I hope we stay positive with what we’re doing and stay on track,” Goodwin said. “We’ve just got to stay the course and keep working.”
The Mohigans will travel to play Wheeling Park on Tuesday before taking on cross-town rival University at UHS on Friday. Goodwin said he feels confident his team will bounce back from its first loss the right way and be ready to play next week.
“If we’re not motivated after today to be ready to come back and play Tuesday and Friday, it could be a tough week for us,” Goodwin said. “I’ve got a great group of young ladies, they’re going to bounce back and they’re going to work hard. I’m not worried about any of those things.”
South Fayette 58, Morgantown 31
SF 17 20 13 8 — 58
MHS 15 11 3 2 — 31
South Fayette — Oldaker 5 3-3 16; Leroux 5 0-0 10; Black 1 0-0 2; Webber 7 6-6 23; Yater 1 0-0 2; Hall 2 1-2 5.
MHS — Wassick 5 3-6 13; Jordan 6 3-6 18; Bechtel 0 0-1 0.
3 Pt. Goals — South Fayette 6 (Oldaker 3, Webber 3). Morgantown 3 (all Jordan).
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