CHARLESTON, W.Va. — What a difference a day makes.
After needing fourth-quarter heroics to sneak past Martinsburg in a quarterfinal, top seed Huntington outplayed No. 4 Morgantown about every possible way to claim a 55-40 win in a Class AAAA semifinal at the Charleston Coliseum.
“Any time you beat Morgantown, you feel good about it,” Huntington coach Lonnie Lucas said. “(Morgantown’s 6-foot-2 DePaul signee Kaitlyn Ammons) gave me nightmares last night. I decided to assign her to (Imani) Hickman straight up and say don’t help. That was the key to controlling them.”
The Highlanders (15-1) will face the winner of No. 2 Cabell Midland/No. 3 George Washington in an all Mountain State Athletic Conference matchup in Saturday’s title.
Huntington, which overcame an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit and trailed for much of its matchup with the Bulldogs, would need no such rally to get by the Mohigans.
Instead, the Highlanders took control of the contest with their defense in the second quarter, holding Morgantown (12-3) to 2-of-9 shooting and four points.
Ravyn Goodson sparked HHS on the offensive end with five points in each of the first two quarters and the Highlanders made 7-of-14 shots in the second to enter halftime doubling up the Mohigans, 26-13.
“My teammates got me the ball for open looks,” Goodson said. “We’re all trained to shoot and score, but we had good ball movement tonight. I’m proud of them.”
The Highlanders limited the Mohigans to five first-half field goals, and MHS had difficulty getting the ball inside to Ammons, who had two points and three shot attempts at the break.
“We’d get them spread out and we didn’t enter the ball very well,” MHS coach Jason White said. “We had a pretty poor passing night.”
Morgantown never got the deficit to single digits in the second half. Goodson and Dionna Gray combined for 11 third-quarter points, and Gray beat the buzzer with a challenged three-pointer that allowed Huntington to lead 43-30 entering the fourth.
The Highlanders were patient and disciplined in the fourth quarter and made 5-of-7 shots to seal the verdict. Huntington made 11-of-17 shots in the second half for nearly 65 percent shooting.
“The turning point for me was knowing we had it under control after a 16-4 second quarter,” Lucas said. “It’s hard to come back from that.”
Goodson’s 16 points were a game high. Gray, who scored 26 second-half points in the win over Martinsburg, finished with 13 and six assists.
Freshman Amara Jackson made the most of her 24 minutes with eight points and 10 rebounds, while Hickman grabbed eight boards.
“I’ve played basketball for a long time. I think to myself just play and I try not to listen to the crowd,” Jackson said. “It’s just basketball to me and another game.”
Huntington won the battle of the boards 31-21 and prevented the Mohigans from recording a fast break or second-chance point.
“Maybe the most impressive part of their team is how they attack the rebounds,” White said. “They go to the offensive glass as hard as anybody we played all year.”
Sofia Wassick led MHS with 13 points and her older sister Cat Wassick culminated her prep career with 11 points.