Things I think I think after January

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>PARKERSBURG - January featured plenty of upsets, wild wins, and some revenge victories. Parkersburg High pulled off one of the best wins of the season back on Jan 17. The Big Reds stunned Wheeling Park, 81-73, on Sam Mandich Court. University sent Wayne to its' first loss, 71-69, on Jan. 27. As if those victories weren't exciting enough, Park evened its season series with Morgantown at 1 all after a 69-59 win on Jan. 23. These wins and more games brought further clarity to the high school landscape as well as my thoughts, here are five things I think after January and why: </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>University isn't done, just yet</strong> - The Hawks seem to be free of their early season woes. Finally. Injuries, lopsided losses and a 4-8 record have given way to growth, wins, and a 6-1 mark over their last seven games. Along the way, the Hawks picked up some impressive wins over Wayne, John Marshall and Steubenville. In all those victories, the Hawks have looked like the team many expected them to be at the beginning of the season. They've played with the confidence of a veteran team. [player_tooltip player_id='342212' first='Hannah' last='Stemple'] and [player_tooltip player_id='726644' first='Ella' last='Simpson'] have led the way. Bri Fox and Ashlyn Weaver have developed into key pieces. [player_tooltip player_id='732352' first='Riley' last='Braham'], [player_tooltip player_id='496350' first='Lexi' last='Simpson'] and Julia Maisel became great role players. About the only thing missing from the Hawks' run? A building-block win over a AAAA contender. They do have a chance to pick up a big momentum-building win over Morgantown on Feb. 13 and if they pick up that win, it may be just the boost they need to head into the regional tournament with a huge shot of confidence. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PHS may be young, but the Big Reds are mighty</strong> - Do the Big Reds care that they are a young team? Not one bit. Chris Murray's group came ready to play in the opening month of the season. They picked up some huge wins. The same can be said for the month of January, perhaps even more so. Of course, the big win that will catch the eye of people is the shocking victory over the Wheeling Park Patriots. This win was not expected by many people. Yet, the Big Reds took played a hard defensive game on the Patriots' main scorers of LaLa Woods and Alexis Boards. With the Patriots' best players limited in their second-chance opportunities, the Big Reds slowed the game down and went to work old school style. They outrebounded and outhustled the Patriots to many loose balls. [player_tooltip player_id='378962' first='Trinity' last='Balog'] and [player_tooltip player_id='640828' first='Lauren' last='Flanagan'] were particularly dangerous against the Patriots. Yet, the biggest wins were five Mountain State Athletic victories that kept them on pace to play in the MSAC title game. In fact, the Big Reds own a little wiggle room, even after a late-month loss to GW. They are the lone team in the conference with one-league loss. Are they a look for the title game? No. They still have two huge league games on the road at Spring Valley and at home against St. Albans. Should they emerge from both those games with a win and avoid an upset vs. Riverside than they will be in a good position for a GW rematch. Right now, they look really good even though they are really young. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>EF looks like a state title contender</strong> - The Bees are buzzing! [player_tooltip player_id='379505' first='Kenly' last='Rogers'] is buzzing! [player_tooltip player_id='570290' first='Kailee' last='Haymond'] is buzzing! Tarayn Meyers is buzzing! The entirety of the East Fairmont team is buzzing! James Beckman's group enters the next to last week of the regular season undefeated after a crazy January where it picked up some huge wins. The Bees, who already owned wins over Nitro, defending Class AA state champion Wyoming East and defending Class AAA state champion North Marion added victories over highly-ranked Ripley, Lewis County and Philip Barbour. None of them came in close fashion, either. They beat the Vikings by seven points, before they put on a defensive and transition clinic against the Minutemaids and Colts. They also flashed their offensive chops by topping 100-points against Fairmont Senior. The Bees have everything working at all stages of the game on both sides of the floor. Not only are they a strong transition team, but they can work the ball around for a good shot in a half-court offense. Adding to the woes opposing teams must face is their defense. They are relentless on help defense, have a strong transition defense, and their half-court defense is deadly thanks to a deep bench. Is it East Fairmont's year? It certainly looks like everything is in place for the Bees to make a run to the last game of the season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>GW looks ready to make some noise </strong>- The Patriots have finally put everything together. Everything. You name it and GW can show it on the basketball court. They enter the last games of the season with their defense, team scoring, offense and transition game all working beautifully. In fact, they showed a little bit of everything in a few impressive wins in January. Against the Big Reds, they used their defense to stifle the Big Reds in the second half thus erasing a PHS double-digit halftime lead. [player_tooltip player_id='379495' first='Finley' last='Lohan'] made life hard to [player_tooltip player_id='378962' first='Trinity' last='Balog'], while the rest of the group limited the other Big Reds' options. They flexed their scoring muscles three times in putting up point totals of 101, 81, and 82 against Riverside, Hurricane and Cabell Midland. Additionally against Hurricane, Lohan and [player_tooltip player_id='379527' first='Zaniah' last='Zellous'] both tallied 26 points. If that wasn't enough, [player_tooltip player_id='718028' first='Jeriyah' last='Pryor'] showed off her explosive scoring repertoire with a 15-point third-quarter effort against the night. Talk about flexing your muscles. It is likely the Patriots will play in the Mountain State Athletic Conference title game as they are the only undefeated team left in the league. Even if they lose a game, they will likely get in as only one other team, PHS, has a single loss in league play. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->