MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — An unbeaten 6-0 start has Morgantown again as the girls basketball favorite out of Class AAA as the Mohigans are looking for a third straight state championship.
Morgantown won last year’s title in convincing fashion, dominating rival Parkersburg South 48-31 with a smothering defense that set overall state tournament defensive records.
The Mohigans lost five seniors (three starters) from last year’s team, but still return a lot of talent. The most notable loss for Morgantown was point guard Olivia Seggie who graduated and moved on to WVU.
“It’s been a learning curve,” said head coach Jason White. “We have some kids who are in and trying to get a feel for what their role is on this team. You can’t replace a kid like Liv and I think she’s proven that with the success she’s had early on at West Virginia.”
A couple of the key pieces back from that title team, however, include seniors Sydney Holloway and Rachel Laskody. Holloway scored 13 points in the championship game last season against Parkersburg South.
“She has the ability at any time to take over a game,” White said. “She’s so long and athletic and she has a knack and nose for finding the ball. She really does a good job on the boards and is leading us in both points and rebounds per game.
“She can go after it, defend, step away from the basket, shoot it – she’s athletic enough to beat most team’s 4s and 5s off the dribble,” he continued. “She’s a kid that we need – we need her scoring, we need her defense, we need her rebounds and most of all we need her to stay on the floor.”
Morgantown and Parkersburg South have already met once in the early portion of this season with the Mohigans collecting a 54-41 road win. Holloway scored 14 points in the win, while Laskody added 13 points and Lydia Adrian added 12 points.
The two rival programs met four times a season ago with Morgantown winning three of the matchups.
“I do like to play them – they’re awfully talented and they do make us better,” White said. “It’s a good problem to have (facing Parkersburg South so frequently), it means we’re both having some success.”
And while Morgantown and Parkersburg South are the most obvious programs in contention for the AAA title this season, there are several other programs looking to play spoiler.
“There are other teams that will have a say,” White said. “South Charleston has all of their girls back, Huntington is returning all of their girls and I think Greenbrier East has a really good team. St. Albans, which we already ran up against once this year, has a nice group of kids.
“Parkersburg High has all of their kids back,” he continued. “While we (Morgantown and Parkersburg South) have been lucky enough to meet each other over the last few years in the state championship, there are several teams around the state that are bringing back senior laden groups, could get hot and easily make a run at this thing. I think there are a lot of teams in AAA that will have a say.”
| MORGANTOWN 2015-2016 Girls Basketball Schedule |
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| 1 | 11/23/15 | 1:00PM | A – | RIPLEY SCRIMMAGE | – | |||
| 2 | 11/30/15 | 6:00PM | H – | SOUTHERN, MD SCRIMMAGE | – | |||
| 3 | 12/04/15 | 7:30PM | A – | FAIRMONT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL | 55 | – | 41 | W |
| 4 | 12/05/15 | TBAPM | A – | ST. ALBANS HIGH SCHOOL | 44 | – | 36 | W |
| 5 | 12/08/15 | 7:30PM | A – | WHEELING PARK | 56 | – | 38 | W |
| 6 | 12/10/15 | 7:30PM | H – | UNIVERSITY | 59 | – | 28 | W |
| 7 | 12/14/15 | 7:30PM | A – | JOHN MARSHALL | 53 | – | 23 | W |
| 8 | 12/17/15 | 7:30PM | A – | PARKERSBURG SOUTH | 54 | – | 41 | W |
| 9 | 12/29/15 | 7:30PM | A – | ST. ALBANS HIGH SCHOOL | – | |||
| 10 | 12/30/15 | 2:00PM | A – | LOGAN | – | |||
| 11 | 01/05/16 | 7:30PM | H – | BROOKE HIGH SCHOOL | – | |||
| 12 | 01/07/16 | 7:30PM | H – | WHEELING PARK | – | |||
| 13 | 01/09/16 | 4:00PM | H – | LOGAN | – | |||
| 14 | 01/16/16 | 3:15PM | A – | MARTINSBURG | – | |||
| 15 | 01/19/16 | 7:30PM | H – | PARKERSBURG SOUTH | – | |||
| 16 | 01/22/16 | 7:30PM | A – | UNIVERSITY | – | |||
| 17 | 01/23/16 | 5:30PM | H – | ST. JOHNS PREP,MD HS | – | |||
| 18 | 01/28/16 | TBAPM | A – | BIG ATLANTIC CLASSIC | – | |||
| 19 | 01/30/16 | TBAPM | A – | BIG ATLANTIC CLASSIC | – | |||
| 20 | 02/01/16 | 7:30PM | H – | OVAC SEMI-FINAL | – | |||
| 21 | 02/06/16 | TBAPM | A – | OVAC CHAMPIONSHIP | – | |||
| 22 | 02/10/16 | 4:00PM | A – | SOUTH CHARLESTON AT CIVIC CENTER (LITTLE GENERAL) | – | |||
| 23 | 02/13/16 | 3:15PM | H – | MARTINSBURG | – | |||
| 24 | 02/16/16 | 7:30PM | H – | PRESTON HIGH SCHOOL | – | |||
| 25 | 02/23/16 | 7:00PM | H – | SECTIONAL SEMI-FINAL | – | |||
| 26 | 02/25/16 | 7:00PM | H – | SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP | – | |||
| 27 | 03/01/16 | 7:00PM | H – | REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP | – | |||
| wins: 6 lost: 0 ties: 0 | ||||||||