MORGANTOWN – A pair of 2025 state tournament teams met on Wednesday as University hosted Morgantown on Baker’s Ridge for the girls basketball edition of the Mohawk Bowl.
Both teams won their opening pair of games last week and entered the contest 2-0, but the Mohigans were the ones to pick up their third victory of the young season with a 70-31 wire-to-wire victory over their crosstown rivals.
MHS junior Carper Messerly filled the state sheet with a game-high 17 points, six rebounds, three steals, and a pair of assists. She was joined in scoring by junior Brenna Nelson (14) and sophomore Sydney Deusenberry (10), who added seven assists as well.
“These girls are just fun to coach,” MHS head coach John Fowkes said. “That’s my favorite thing about the first few games. They fly around, their attitudes are great, they come in every day and let us coach them hard, but honestly, they demand that out of us as coaches. We were a little shaky on Saturday after we got up big in a game, and we challenged them Monday and Tuesday. They responded well.”
The Hawks saw double-figure scoring from junior Cheyanna Bishoff, who finished with 10 points, nailing three triples.
“This isn’t indicative of what this team will be come the end of the season,” UHS first-year head coach Sammy Lusk said. “We have the pieces to be better than what we were tonight, and we have a lot of growing to do because of some of our inexperience. It’s my job to make sure that happens. It’s a long season.”
The Mohigans recorded 31 rebounds and 13 steals against the Hawks on Wednesday, with eight different scorers.
UHS cut the lead to 13-7 in the opening quarter with Bishoff’s first three, but didn’t score for the final 2:30 of the first as MHS opened a 19-7 lead after one frame.
Another bright spot for MHS was the fact that nearly every player who touched the floor recorded at least one rebound, a steal, and an assist.
“We get physical in practice,” Fowkes said. “They want to get the pads out and take some contact. I truly feel like no other team practices as hard as we do.”
Despite a slow start to the second half for both teams (seven combined points in four minutes of the third), Messerly hit a three to light the spark for MHS, and the Mohigans didn’t look back on their way to their third victory of the season.
University will hit the road Saturday to visit Laurel Highlands (Pa.), while MHS will welcome Wheeling Park to Wilson Avenue on Tuesday evening.
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 70, University 31
MHS 19 18 15 18 – 70
UHS 7 7 7 10 – 31
Morgantown (3-0) – Messerly 6 1-1 17 Nelson 7 0-0 14 Duesenberry 4 0-0 10 Young 4 0-0 8 Tingler 3 0-0 6 Ammons 3 0-0 8 Balderson 1 0-0 3 Ancell 2 0-0 4
University (2-1) – Bishoff 3 1-2 10 Fox 3 3-4 9 Vanscoy 2 1-2 7 Campbell 1 0-0 2 Cox 0 1-2 1 Patterson 1 0-0 2
3pt goals made: Morgantown 9 (Messerly 4 Ammons 2 Dues 2 Balderson 1); University 5 (Bishoff 3 Vanscoy 2)
