MORGANTOWN — The University High girls’ basketball team didn’t get off to the start it imagined this season going 4-8 through the first 12 games.
Since then, the Hawks have won seven of their last eight and finally have every player on the roster back to full health.
UHS (11-9) flexed its muscles on Monday night on Baker’s Ridge against visiting sectional foe Bridgeport with relentless defensive pressure and the ability to score from everywhere on the floor on offense in a 73-28 win.
UHS senior Ella Simpson led the scoring with 23 points, finishing 10 of 13 from the field with a pair of triples. She was joined by junior Hannah Stemple with 19 points and a trio of threes.
From the opening tip, the Hawks were on the run, as Simpson found a cutting Ashlyn Weaver for an easy layup to begin the game. An early 6-0 lead forced a timeout from the Indians, but despite keeping the deficit under double-figures, BHS (5-13) only scored seven points in the opening quarter as the Hawks led 16-7.
“Tonight is kind of what we’ve been able to do over these last eight games,” UHS head coach Nick Lusk said. “Getting everyone back has helped tremendously. When we didn’t have everyone, others had to step up and play a lot of minutes and it is showing in their play now. Honestly, we weren’t pleased with the press tonight and saw some corrections we can make.”
Despite being displeased with the press, the Hawks still managed to force turnovers out of Bridgeport over and over again. This allowed players like Simpson to find space underneath and score in transition. Once UHS had built its lead, some well-ran offensive sets gave open space for shooters like Stemple and Simpson to hit from deep.
“Our halfcourt offense is getting better, which is something we’ve struggled with this season,” Lusk said. “We know the schedule that we played early on made us a lot better and we want to continue to build on that.”
The Hawks outscored the Indians 21-8 in the second quarter to take a 37-15 lead into the locker room. Simpson outscored the visitors herself with 16 of her 23 points coming in the opening 16 minutes.
A first-team all-state selection from a year ago, Simpson hadn’t been scoring the ball at the same clip as a season ago through the first half of the season. But since she has gone for double-figures in nearly every game while continuing to produce numbers in all categories.
On Jan. 30 in a win over Wheeling Central, she nearly finished with a quadruple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, and eight steals.
“It’s so big for us as a team for her to score, and big for her individually,” Lusk said. “But we’ve had three or four players in double-digits in multiple games which takes some of that pressure off of her. So when she can go out and score like she did tonight, we know we have a pretty good chance.”
UHS only allowed 13 points to Bridgeport in the second half, and for the game, didn’t allow the visitors to score in double-figures in any of the four quarters.
The Hawks will enjoy the next eight days off before a huge matchup on the road against rival Morgantown on Feb. 13.
Box score
University 73, Bridgeport 28
Bridgeport – Pierce 2 0-0 5 Amick 1 0-0 2 Dodd 3 3-4 9 Pryor 1 2-4 4 Martinez 3 0-0 6 Anderson 1 0-0 2
University – E. Simpson 10 1-2 23 Stemple 7 2-2 19 Weaver 4 0-0 9 Fox 3 0-0 6 Cox 2 0-0 5 Johnson 2 0-2 4 L. Simpson 2 0-0 4 Maisel 1 0-0 2
BHS 7 8 8 5—28
UHS 16 21 23 13—73
3pt goals – Bridgeport 1 (Pierce); University 7 (Stemple 3 Simpson 2 Weaver 1 Cox 1)
Trinity 59, Toronto (Ohio) 41
TORONTO, Ohio — Jenna Barnett scored 18 points to lead the slow-starting Warriors.
After trailing for much of the first half, Trinity used its full-court pressure to begin forcing turnovers that turned into points at the other end. By the fourth quarter, the Warriors were pulling away.
Ella Lynch had 10 points for Trinity. Toronto was led by Ashton Thomas’ 25 points.
Trinity travels to Frankfort on Wednesday.
