CHARLESTON, W.Va. – No. 1 Buckhannon-Upshur fought and clawed its way back to the Class AAA state championship game on Friday night, edging No. 4 Wheeling Park 42-39 in a physical defensive battle.
The Buccaneers missed 14 of their first 16 shots and trailed 19-9 with 2:20 remaining in the second quarter.
“That was just a gritty performance, it’s not always going to be pretty,” said Buckhannon-Upshur coach Jeremy Maxwell. “A lot of people were talking about our first game (at the tournament) being pretty and that we’re fun to watch – we’re not always fun to watch.
“Sometimes we just have to grit it out and play that ugly basketball,” he continued. “We’re able to play so many different ways because these girls are winners. They win on and off the court every single day.”
After cutting its deficit to five at the half, 19-14, Buckhannon used a 7-0 run late in the third to eventually take the lead, 26-24, on a bucket by standout Hanna McClung.
It was McClung – and Buckhannon’s defensive pressure (scoring 21 points off of 22 forced turnovers overall) – that helped get the Bucs back on the right track after the slow start.
“There are only certain things that we can control and defense is one of them,” Maxwell said. “Defense is something we take a lot of pride in and it’s something we’ve taken into our program.
“Sometimes we can score 80 points,” he continued. “But other times we can score 40 and win. If we hold teams under that mark, we have a better chance in winning.”
McClung, meanwhile, was battling foul trouble throughout the night, picking up her fourth foul with under a minute to go in the third quarter.
It was almost Déjà vu for the senior point guard, who missed a significant amount of time in the fourth quarter, on the same court, last year in the state championship loss to Huntington.
“My coaches had my back and knew that I needed to just trust my team on the defensive end and play back, taking away my aggression, so I could help my team on offense take care of the ball,” McClung said. “(Last year’s title game) did cross my mind and I knew for one thing that I was going to be on the court at the end of the game, whether we won or lost.”
She missed just 1:17 of the fourth quarter on Friday while playing with those four fouls.
“(McClung) is a very smart player,” said Wheeling Park coach Ryan Young. “She’s probably going to be the state player of the year and there’s a reason for that. When a kid is that good and that experienced and she has four fouls, she knows how to handle herself on the floor.”
Another key stretch came in the fourth when an Alli Robinson bucket was followed by a Lauren Bennett steal and two made free throws, putting the Bucs up 40-34 with 1:39 to go.
Wheeling Park would have its chances in the final minute, though, as missed Buckhannon free throws left the door open for the Patriots.
Trailing 40-39, a missed 3 from Wheeling Park’s Shanley Woods with six seconds to go essentially clinched the win for BU, while McClung followed with a pair of made free throws on the other end.
McClung led Buckhannon with 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Bennett added 13 points and six steals in the win as well.
Laurel Robb led Wheeling Park with 10 points and nine rebounds.
“My kids left everything on the floor like they always do and they make a coach proud,” Young said. “It’s a tough way to go out, but we lost to a very, very good basketball team. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
After coming up short in the title game to Huntington last year, Buckhannon will get its shot at redemption on Friday.
“I can’t be more thankful to have these girls and the ride we’ve been on all year,” McClung said. “This is what we’re planning for and this is what we’ve been looking forward to all year. Our emotions are high, but we’re ready to go and it’s exactly where we wanted to be.”
Buckhannon will face either Parkersburg or Parkersburg South Saturday night at 7:15 p.m.
“Both Parkersburg teams are great,” Bennett said. “(Tonight’s) game proves we can be beat. We walked in as the No. 1 seed and we’re so thankful for that – we worked for that all year and stayed there. But I’m just hoping that we can actually finish it this year.”
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