McHENRY — The finale of the second annual Deep Creek Holiday Classic lived up to the hype, and then some.
In a game between the runners-up in last year’s West Virginia Class AAAA and Maryland’s Class 1A finals, Southern emerged victorious on Saturday, defeating Morgantown 59-51 at Garrett College.
“It’s good to see us bounce back and respond the way we did,” Southern head coach Landon Todd said. “Last night when we talked, we said if we’re gonna lose a game, we wanna at least learn something from it. I feel that tonight is evidence we might’ve actually learned something from that loss.”
The Mohigans (6-2) played for the state title in each of the previous three seasons, winning it all in 2023.
Jayden Weaver’s 18 points led all scorers for the Rams (7-1), adding six assists, two steals and a block.
“Yesterday was probably the worst game of her career, she knew it, we talked about it before the game,” Todd said. “She wasn’t running from it, she owned it. Yesterday, she was all emotion, no basketball player. Today, she kept her emotion in check, she was all basketball player.”
Emelee Parks and Carly Wilt also scored in double figures.
Parks scored 11 points with two steals while Wilt added 10 points and two assists.
Kayli Kellogg paced Morgantown with 16 points, adding four steals and three assists.
The Rams led 46-42 heading into the fourth, but the Mohigans made it a one-point game at 50-49 with 3:43 to go off a put back from Lucie Hatcher.
On the other end, Gabbi Berry found Weaver who split the defense and converted an and-one layup to push Southern’s lead to four.
Kelsey Ward recorded a steal, setting up Weaver for an assist on a Wilt fadeaway to stretch the Rams’ lead to 55-49 with two minutes to play.
Out of a timeout, the Mohigans were called for a shot clock violation.
It set up Wilt, who sent a perfectly placed bounce pass to Parks for a layup, stretching Southern’s lead to 57-49.
In the waning moments, Morgantown missed an open 3-pointer and was forced to foul.
Leading 57-51 with less than 10 seconds remaining, Weaver denied the Mohigans on a thunderous block that gave Southern possession.
“We played some tough defense,” Todd said. “Em (Parks) took a huge charge at the end. We kinda called them out last night for bailing out of some charges, Em might’ve sealed the game. She knew it too, as soon as she walked in she said I had four (fouls), she had four, one of us had to foul out.”
The Rams led 38-27 at halftime, but the Mohigans refused to go away in the third quarter.
Southern never trailed, but Morgantown kept it within two possessions.
With the Rams ahead 45-38, the Mohigans rallied to end the quarter and cut Southern’s lead to 46-42.
After a Weaver put back in the final seconds, Sadaya Jones set up Sofia Wassick for a layup at the buzzer to make it a four-point margin.
Jones finished with 14 points, three assists and two steals.
Kayli Kellogg led the Mohigans with 16 points, four steals and three assists.
Southern committed seven turnovers that led to 10 of Morgantown’s 15 points in the quarter.
The first quarter featured five lead changes and four ties.
The Rams struggled with the defensive pressure by the Mohigans, as the combination of press and face guarding led to numerous near traveling and backcourt violations.
“They just applied a little more pressure than what we expected,” Todd said. “Coming into the game, Morgantown had been laxed defensively. We thought we’d have our way with them. Credit to them, they dogged us on defense, denied the wings and caused us to do some things we didn’t want to do.”
Leading 16-13 after one quarter, Southern took control in the second quarter.
The Rams opened on a 17-6 run to push the lead to 33-23 with 2:09 in the half.
Joycelyn Ward assisted Abi Teets on a layup in the final seconds to give Southern an 11-point cushion at halftime.
In the first half, the Rams shot 13 of 26 (50%) from the field compared to the Mohigans’ 10 of 29 (34%).
The Deep Creek Holiday Classic featured five teams who reached at least the quarterfinals in their respective state tournaments last season.
“It’s really cool to see this many good teams come and play here,” Todd said. “I think the coolest thing is, we made sure to match up against the two toughest teams that were going to be here. We had accepted the fact we could go 0-2 this weekend. But we just wanted to see how we stack up against that competition. Despite a three-point loss against Blackhawk, we still showed our true colors and we’re a team that can play with just about anybody.”
Avonwolth went 24-3 and reached the quarterfinals in Pennsylvania’s Class 3A.
Blackhawk won the Class 4A title in Pennsylvania with a 27-3 mark and beat Southern on Friday 51-48.
East Fairmont went 25-1 and was a semifinalist in West Virginia’s Class AAA.
Along with Morgantown and Southern as reigning state finalists, Mountain Ridge is two years removed from an appearance in the Class 1A title game.
The Miners (4-2) split its two games at Garrett College, defeating Trinity 49-45 while falling to Millbrook 51-43.
The Rams open the 2025 calendar year at home against Musselman, West Virginia, on Saturday at 7 p.m.