MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown High girls’ basketball team (2-2) won its second-consecutive game of the season, 60-35, over University (1-1) on Dec. 8, at UHS.

After losing their first two games by large margins, the Mohigans focused this week’s practices on what needed to be fixed — the defensive end of the court — and came out and executed against the Hawks.

According to MHS head coach Jason White, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. While the team did not start its season at the standard its set for itself the last three seasons, he finds the positive in the situation and believes it can be successful this season.

“I look at it as a great experience for us to learn with a new group,” White said. “We played really good opponents that put a lot of pressure on us. Our kids can see where we need to be, so by the end of the season, we can be playing like that.”

Paced by balanced scoring, defensive pressure and offensive execution, the Mohigans kept a steady lead throughout the game. MHS senior Lydia Adrian led the way in scoring, with 14 points and five rebounds. Fallon Nicholson added 11 points and nine rebounds, and Maddie Seman tallied 10 points and five rebounds.

Adrian averages 14 points per game, and according to White, her ability to score is needed for the team to 
be successful.

Adrian “is such a matchup problem for other teams because she is a 6-foot guard that is long and lanky,” White said. “It is a dribble or two from the 3-point line and then she is laying it in at the rim. But as her ability to score increases, her ability to make that extra pass has to continue to get better because she is going to draw a double team.”

Zoe Murphy led the Hawks with 11 points, and Ashten Boggs recorded seven and five rebounds. Despite the score, White noted that UHS continued to battle back the whole game, applying good pressure on defense.

“We talked positively to each other and worked together once we figured out what we needed to do,” Boggs said. “At halftime, we talked about what we needed to work on offensively and defensively. This was only our second game of the season. As it goes on, I think we will become much better individually and as a group so we can put our skills together to become a better team.”

MHS jumped out to a five-point lead to begin the first quarter and never fell behind. The Mohigans led 20-7 after the first and a 
33-15 lead at the half.

MHS held a 26-point lead after the third (51-25). The pace was in their hands, so much so that White saw a need to slow down and have more patience with their shots.

“Once we got a lead, we started to speed up and almost play too fast,” White said. “Our kids were starting to get a bit winded, but were still sprinting up and down the court trying to make quick shots.”

White joked that something must be in the water in this town because both MHS and UHS have small teams this season, but both are heading in the right direction.

MHS travels to Brooke on Dec. 16, while UHS heads to Parkersburg South on Dec. 13. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.