By NICK HENTHORN, For the WVSWA
WHEELING — Coming into her junior season, Wheeling Park’s Alexis Bordas was already in rarified air.
After a sophomore year in which she took home the Mary Ostrowski award and the Gatorade West Virginia Girls Basketball Player of the Year award, as well as breaking the 1,000-point threshold in just two seasons, there was one thing Bordas had yet to achieve– a state championship.
This past season, on a team with three of the Patriots’ 10 all-time 1,000-point scorers, Bordas and the Patriots reached the finish line in a 65-41 win over Morgantown in the Class AAAA state championship game on March 9.
Earlier in the tournament, Bordas set Class AAAA tournament records for points (38) in a game and 3-pointers in a game (eight) to boot.
“I definitely went into it super focused on doing whatever I could to help my team win,” Bordas said. “Winning a state championship is all I’ve wanted to do during my three years I’ve been here. Whether that was facilitate, score, rebound; I ended up breaking those records just because I was so focused.”
“Her performance against Huntington was remarkable, but really for the whole tournament it was really special,” Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young said. “She obviously loves it down there, it’s everything she works for, and she delivered. That’s what she did for three days. She’ll be the first to tell you her teammates had a lot to do with it.”
For her championship season in which she averaged 23.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game, Patriots junior Alexis Bordas is captain of the Class AAAA all-state first team, as selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
Bordas is flanked by two other Wheeling Park Patriots, junior Lala Woods and senior Natalie Daugherty, the two other Park players on this past season’s team to break 1,000 points.
“When you think about having three 1,000-point scorers; a lot of people coach and they don’t see one 1,000-point scorer,” Young said. “To have three on one team, I’m obviously blessed as a coach to have that. But it still takes a team effort to win, and we bought into that this year.”
Woods averaged 16.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.2 steals per game, while Daugherty averaged 14.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, four assists and 2.6 steals per game for the Patriots.
“It’s amazing and I think it just shows how talented our team is,” Bordas said. “We have so many people that could score. Obviously we’re going to miss Natalie next year and she’s been a great player in the program since she was a freshman and she’s worked so hard. Lala, I’ve grown up playing with her since I was four years old. We played AAU together for awhile, now we’re playing in high school, it’s really fun to play with her and they’re both great players.”
The Wheeling Park trio are joined on the Class AAAA first team by George Washington senior Zeniah Zellous, Morgantown freshman Kayli Kellogg, Parkersburg senior Trinity Balog, George Washington senior Finley Lohan and Spring Valley junior Allie Daniels.
Kellogg leapt into the top of Class AAAA in her first year with the Mohigans, helping Morgantown to their third straight state title game while averaging 16.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Kellogg scored a team-high 19 points in the Mohigans’ 54-50 upset of No. 1 George Washington in the state semifinals.
Teammates Zellous and Lohan led the George Washington Patriots to a 16-game mid-season winning streak and a conference title, and both posted double-doubles in the Patriots’ state quarterfinals win over Musselman.
Zellous, the MSAC Player of the Year, averaged 18.2 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game while Lohan averaged 15.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
Balog became the Big Reds’ all-time leading scorer this season, surpassing the previous mark of 1,386 points in a game against St. Alban on Feb. 22. Balog averaged 24.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in her final season at Parkersburg.
Daniels helped Spring Valley to a state tournament berth, scoring 18 points with 22 rebounds in the Timberwolves regional co-final vs. St. Albans. She scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds in a tight quarterfinals contest against sectional rival Huntington.
Morgantown senior Sofia Wassick captains the all-state second team, joined by Huntington senior Amara Jackson, Greenbrier East sophomore Kennedy Stewart, University senior Ella Simpson, St. Albans sophomore NuNu Pannell, George Washington freshman Jerriyah Pryor, Morgantown senior Lilli Jordan and Morgantown junior Sadaya Jones.
All-State honorees and honorable mentions can obtain state-shaped wooden plaques with name, school, year and honor at wvswa.org or bearwoodcompany.com.
Girls Basketball Class AAAA All-State Team as Selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association
First team
Alexis Bordas, Wheeling Park (Jr.) (Captain)
Zaniah Zellous, George Washington (Jr.)
Lala Woods, Wheeling Park (Jr.)
Kayli Kellogg, Morgantown (Fr.)
Trinity Balog, Parkersburg (Sr.)
Finley Lohan, George Washington (Sr.)
Allie Daniels, Spring Valley (Jr.)
Natalie Daugherty, Wheeling Park (Sr.)
Second Team
Amara Jackson,. Huntington (Sr.)
Kennedy Stewart, Greenbrier East (Soph.)
Ella Simpson, University (Sr.)
Sofia Wassick, Morgantown (Sr.) (Captain)
NuNu Pannell, St. Albans (Soph.)
Jerriyah Pryor, George Washington (Fr.)
Lilly Jordan, Morgantown (Sr.)
Sadaya Jones, Morgantown (Jr.)
Honorable Mention
Alyssa Abel, Buckhannon-Upshur; Lexi Adams, Washington; Alexandra Anderson, Hurricane; Kaydance Bradley, Martinsburg; Gracie Brown, Hedgesville; Josie Cross, Woodrow Wilson; Kayli Derrow, John Marshall; Jaylin Dodd, Bridgeport; Jaycee Elzy, St. Albans; Malaysia Foye, Capital; Taysia Gray, Oak Hill; Jillian Huffman, Wheeling Park; Bri King, Spring Mills; Cassadie Lahman, Buckhannon-Upshur; Jasmine Morris, Musselman; Kendra Nazelrod, Preston; Dria Parker, Spring Valley; Kennedy Porter, Parkersburg; Carley Schaffer, Parkersburg South; Gracie Shamblin, Parkersburg South; Hannah Stemple, University; Rilee Storm, John Marshall; Maddie Stull, Princeton; Cameryn Sypolt, Preston; Jada Turner, Huntington; Ava Ward, Riverside; Ella White, Preston; Ava Workman, Greenbrier East
