MORGANTOWN – No doubt was left Thursday night by either team in two consecutive victories by the University boys’ and girls’ basketball teams on Baker’s Ridge.
The girls welcomed St. Clairsville (Oh.) in an OVAC consolation game, winning by a score of 80-33. The boys followed with a game against Class AAA opponent Hampshire. The boys earned an impressive all-around victory, 75-20.
For the girls, a fast start in the opening quarter offensively gave UHS (10-7) the upper hand right away. By the end of the first, a 22-9 lead was established and the Hawks had six different players score a basket. A full-court press applied from the opening tip helped the Hawks establish the tempo.
“I can go with numbers and go about nine or ten deep,” UHS head coach Nick Lusk said after the game. “We’re able to apply the press early, we’ve been doing it all year. We’re better as a transition team as our half-court offense can struggle sometimes.”
The transition play that developed from the UHS defense allowed it to get good looks close to the rim. The Hawks scored 28 baskets from 2-point range during the game with ten different players scoring points.
Junior Ella Simpson and senior Emily Sharkey led the way with 17 points each, followed close by sophomore Hannah Stemple with 15.
“I’m happy with how we shared the ball tonight in particular,” Lusk said. “We made extra passes and we played well defensively. It’s good for us to play this way and we hope to carry it forward.”
The boys then continued right where the girls left off with the offensive display. The Hawks opened the game against the visiting Trojans hitting three straight triples that forced an early timeout by Hampshire and set the tone for the game.
UHS closed the first quarter leading 21-2 and shot 7 for 14 as a team with four from deep. To go along with the offense, UHS applied an extended 2-3 zone that frustrated and confused Hampshire, making it difficult to find any open looks.
“I thought our zone really bothered them, we took away the key to their offense and kept them off the offensive boards,” UHS head coach Joe Schmidle said. “I knew we would be in good shape if we kept them off the foul line and off of the glass. We started out the game hot with three threes from three different people, we’re getting better but we’re also getting smarter.”
Schmidle mentioned shot selection as something visibly improved from the beginning of the year and a bit of a different look as far as starters from the opening of the season has proved to work well for UHS.
“We needed to find the right five players and maybe not the best five players,” Schmidle said. “We’ve had so many different starting lineups this year, probably eight or nine players have started for me this year and many of them are coming back next year.”
UHS was led in scoring by Raphael Barcinas with 16 points, followed by Carson Ford off the bench with 14. They each hit four threes as well.
BOYS
University 75, Hampshire 20
UHS 21 15 24 15 – 75
HHS 2 7 5 6 – 20
University – Bandy 6 1-2 10; Coleman 3 0-0 5; Hudson 9 0-0 4; Barcinas 8 0-0 16; Fortney-Garbart 9 0-0 8; Cool 4 0-0 4; Ford 8 0-0 14; Nemacek 4 0-0 4; Jordan-Egnot 2 0-0 3; Farrell 1 0-0 2; Demadovich1 1-1 3
Hampshire – Gray 2 1-2 3; Shanholtz 6 2-4 6; Fields 8 2-2 2; Charlton 2 0-0 2; Streisel 4 0-0 6; Hott 1 1-2 1
3pt goals – UHS 11 (Ford 4, Barcinas 4, Jordan-Egnot 1, Coleman 1, Bandy 1)
GIRLS
University 80, St. Clairsville 33
UHS 22 21 32 5 – 80
SCHS 9 11 6 7 – 33
University – Sharkey 10 0-0 17; Gibson 4 0-0 4; Boateng 5 0-0 6; Simpson 15 0-0 17; Stemple 11 1-2 15; Maisel 5 0-0 3; Weaver 5 2-2 9; Byers 3 0-0 2; Simpson 1 2-2 4; Fox 4 1-1 3
St. Clairsville – Malin 6 3-8 8; Tuttle 9 0-2 7; Moran 8 2-4 7; Gray 1 0-0 2; Kain 8 0-4 7; Barrera 5 0-0 2
3pt goals – UHS 6 (Stemple 2, Simpson 1, Sharkey 1, Weaver 1, Maisel 1); SCHS 4 (Malin 1, Kain 1, Tuttle 1, Moran 1).
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