Wheeling Park puts its earlier season unblemished mark on the line tonight when the 6-0 Patriots face fellow unbeaten and regional rival Morgantown.
The Mohigans boast a talented team adjusting to life without DePaul signee Kaitlyn Ammons. They are averaging 58 points per game through five. Not a bad start to the season.
You can say the same about Park’s start, though it would be a severe underrepresentation of how well things have gone for head coach Ryan Young and his charges.
Park is also working through the loss of a few key starters, including the likes of Lindsey Garrison, Bella Abernathy, and Asia Roby. This after a year in which Young had to replace the offensive output from current Wheeling U sophomore Shanley Woods.
Young’s starting lineup now consists of two freshmen, a sophomore, a junior, and a senior. The result? In addition to the spotless start to the schedule, the youthful Patriots are averaging 43 points per game. That average is a margin of victory, not points.
Yes, through six games, the ‘Park’ is outscoring its opponents 81-38. Only once have the Patriots been held to fewer than 74 points.
Young admits that during the summer and preseason, there was a bit of concern over the projected youth of the team’s roster. Those concerns, safe to say, have been mostly put to rest.
“This summer and fall, we were concerned a bit about having such a young team,” Young noted. “But we have some freshmen and sophomores that don’t play like freshmen and sophomores. Our two frosh came in varsity ready, and the sophomore group has been kind of waiting in the wings.
“Then we have the experience in the junior class to go with our seniors, (Jai’lah) Walker and (Zariah) Marling, who are our foremost seasoned players. It’s a good combination of good young talent and kids with experience.
“We understand that we’re young, so there will be some ups and downs along the way.”
Such was the case during the 65-57 road win against University. The Hawks, like the Patriots, have a solid mixture of young talent and experience and were not about to go away quietly after the Patriots took a sizable early lead.
Young knows it was a much-needed experience for his team, both for the younger players and for overall team cohesion. Not every game will be a blowout, and the sooner his players learn to fight their way through a close late score, the better.
“We had four very lopsided games, so we needed it,” Young said. “University is a team that’s similar to us in terms of makeup, and they have very good guards. I wouldn’t say our kids relaxed in the third quarter, but we were in control and let the lead get away from us.
“But I’m happy about how we responded, and we were able to retake control in the fourth. We needed a game like that to allow our younger players to experience it.”
Park followed that up by treating its home fans to an 89-56 drubbing of Parkersburg South, a program usually up in the top-tier and always willing to give WPHS a tough game.
In that game, freshman Alexis Bordas turned in a game for the ages, cashing in on 10 3-pointers while finishing with an absurd 50 points. Only Dee Davis, who tallied 55 back in 1980, has scored more in a single game.
A nice rebound indeed.
Lots of Weapons
Wheeling Park’s offensive capabilities are a true pick-your-poison type of scenario for the opposition.
True, Bordas has garnered a lot of the early attention, and rightly so. Park’s graduated two game-changing level 3-point shooters in succession the past two years, and she may well finish far above both of them in terms of individual season and career totals. Plus she’s a multi-level threat to score.
But she’s far from the only option. Fellow ninth-grade classmate LaLa Woods had 10 points and six assists against Parkersburg South. The younger sister of Shanley Woods, LaLa’s game is a bit more balanced than her older sister’s. She’s as dangerous driving to the hoop as she is on the perimeter and has a penchant for dishing out assists in bunches after the defense collapses to cut off her route to the bucket.
Then there’s sophomore Natalie Daugherty, also a skilled perimeter threat and solid defender who has led the Patriots on multiple occasions this season. Like the aforementioned trio, junior Sophie Abraham is another capable shooter and scorer.
Whether it’s the taller Walker or quicker Marling that Young trots out with the youngsters, both are capable of providing scorer along with rebounding and defense.
“Alexis gets a lot of publicity, and she deserves it with the start she’s had, but our fellow frosh, LaLa Woods, has probably assisted on most of those points,” Young said. “And Natalie, teams will realize that she’s a very dangerous offensive weapon and a great defender. Sophie could be in the mix with the scorers too.
“Our other kids are playing well into their respective roles. Zariah is a three-year player who started last year and has really taken on the role of rebounding and defending all positions. Jai’lah is much the same.
“When we go to our bench, there’s not really a drop-off, and that’s the hardest thing at this pont, making sure we get them all in the game and keep them fresh because of the way we play.”
Rounding out the nine-deep rotation is junior Naliah Lekanudos and sophomores Jillian Huffman and Merrit Delk. Nothing like having the athleticism of the state’s top girls soccer player coming off the bench.
All are capable of scoring and helping away from the basketball. All have at one point or another. And as Young mentioned earlier, they are all needed, given the intensity that Wheeling Park employs defensively.
Park likes playing full-court, in-your-face defense, ratcheting up the pressure, and forcing turnovers. Points off said turnovers have come in bunches this season, especially against teams not equipped, or prepared, to handle it. But that type of pressure does require large expenditures of energy.
Keeping to rotation going with fresh legs on the floor is paramount.
“We haven’t quite played this style, at least not in a number of years, so I don’t think you really get into that kind of shape you need to be until at least the middle part of the season,” Young said. “But I am happy about where we are, as far as conditioning goes.”
Tonight’s challenge vs. the Mohigans isn’t the only one waiting in the wings. Opponents like Bridgeport, Cabell Midland, Fairmont Senior, Union Local, and Jefferson to close out the season await further into the season.
It’s a schedule designed to test his team’s abilities against top-notch competition, and Young is looking forward to how his girls’ respond as the season progresses, all in effort of prepping for the postseason.
“Our schedule is about to get very tough, and that’s no disrespect to the teams we’ve played already, but we haven’t seen this caliber of teams up to this point,” Young said. “We have kind of a gauntlet coming up with Capital, Cabell, Morgantown, Fairmont Senior, and UL. I’m not sure there’s a tougher five-game stretch.”
That gauntlet will certainly test these Patriots by fire. Then the coach, the players, and the fans can see just what this mixture of youthful skills and enthusiasm coupled with experienced grit and determination can accomplish.
For WPHS faithful, it should be a fun ride.
