THE 1998 Wheeling Park Patriots girls basketball team claimed the first of two straight Class AAA state championships by defeating Fairmont Senior, 101-84.

“The lifeguards from Baywatch couldn’t save Wheeling Park in this game.”

Those words ran in the Charleston Gazette on the morning of March 14, 1998 in an article previewing that night’s Class AAA girls’ basketball championship between Wheeling Park and Fairmont Senior.

On the bus ride to the Charleston Civic Center that day, Park coach Dee Davis held up the newspaper and read that line out loud so that her team would know exactly what people thought about their chances to win that evening.

“That was one of the things that put us over the edge in terms of our fire,” recalled then-senior Bethany (Strothers) Moore. “We were already pumped up and ready to go, but that was just an extra push. That guy was being really bold with his words, and it required a really bold response.”

Those words inspired Wheeling Park to go out that evening and play one of the best girls basketball games in the history of West Virginia, claiming the 1998 state title with a 101-84 win over the Polar Bears. They remain the only girls’ team in state history to ever top the century mark in a state final.

“On that bus ride, Coach (Dee) Davis pulled out the newspaper, the Charleston Gazette,” remembers Brooke (Kosar) Preston. “You are talking about a group of young ladies who think that they can do anything and hearing those words really compelled us. There was no way we were going to lose.

“I think we probably would have won the game anyway, but the level and the way we won was definitely spurred by that newspaper article. We definitely had a chip on our shoulder from that moment on. When we walked into the Civic Center, into the locker room, there was not a chance we were leaving without winning that game.”

The Polar Bears had gone undefeated, 25-0, in the 1997-98 season, were the reigning state champs and had won 35 consecutive times heading into the game. They were heavily favored despite the fact that the Patriots were an outstanding team themselves. Wheeling Park had returned every player from the previous year when it went 21-0 in the regular season and were 21-2 heading into the championship.

“That’s why we were so shocked by the article,” Preston explained. “The way it was written it was like we didn’t even belong there. That’s why that article was such a force for us.”

Led by 32 points from standout Toni Matkovich, the Patriots shot the roof off of the Civic Center, making 32 of 57 shots from the floor, 11 of 34 3-pointers and 29 of 36 free throws.

Matkovich shot 11 of 15 with three triples and was a perfect 7 of 7 from the foul line.

“In the first half, Toni Matkovich was on fire and could not miss,” Preston said. “I remember our shooting percentage was way higher than normal, we just couldn’t miss.”

Matkovich was one of four Patriots to finish with double-digit points, along with KeTara Lee (19), Strothers Moore (15), Shay Glauser (19)

“We were super athletic and we didn’t really have a weak spot,” Lee remembered. “On any given night, you didn’t know which one of us was going to score on you and on that particular night, everybody did. Everybody scored, it was literally like we could not miss. When I go back and reminisce on it, I really think we didn’t miss a shot. It seems to me like we were 100 for 100.”

One of the reasons for Park’s excellence in the game was that no matter how many points it scored or how big its lead was, it never stopped playing as hard as it could.

“Even though through much of the game we were in control, I don’t know that we ever played like we felt like we were in control,” Strothers-Moore said. “We had a sense of urgency.”

Aside from winning a championship, one of the team’s other goals that season was to score 100 points in a game. Leading 99-84 with just 10 ticks left on the clock in the fourth quarter, Strothers-Moore went to the foul line to shoot two shots with that 100-point mark in sight.

“I remember her walking up (to the free-throw line) and you could just see the weight of that moment,” Preston said. “She knew what it was, she knew what was happening. When she hit the first one, you could see the release. Just talking about it, I get goosebumps. I don’t know if we knew that it had never happened before, but we knew it was a big deal.”

She sank the first one, making Wheeling Park the first girls team to ever reach 100 points in state history.

“My initial reaction in scoring the 100th point was just achieving one of the team goals,” Stothers Moore admitted. “The bench was very animated at that point, I remember a roar (from the crowd) and just taking a second before I shot the second one to take it all in and look at my teammates, our parents and everyone in the stands. It was a really lovely moment.”

Strothers Moore sank the second shot as well, setting the W.Va. scoring record at 101 points.

“After I shot the 101st point, it was the first time in the whole game I think I took a deep breath,” Strothers Moore said. “That was the first time I think all of us let ourselves feel that (relief).”

“I never thought, in a million years, that we would ever get to 100,” Lee chuckled. “To get to it in the state championship game the way we did, we were going crazy on the sideline.”

Seconds later, the final buzzer sounded and the Patriots became state champions.

“When that final buzzer rang, it was sheer ecstasy,” Preston said. “We had created a goal, created a game plan of how we were going to do it and the fact that we executed it almost flawlessly just really proved to us that we reaped the reward of hard work and determination and coming together as a group to accomplish a goal.”

“After the fact, our parents put together a little party for us in the hotel and that’s when it started to set in the fact that that was an important game, that was a big game, that was a record-setting game,” Strothers Moore added. “When the buzzer went off it was initially just pure excitement and empowerment. For a lot of us, it was the first big goal we had set and achieved in our adult lives. It was a special moment.”

“We had so much to prove to everybody and I honestly don’t think there was a team in America that would’ve beat us that night,” Lee said. “We were so determined to win that game.”

The win was special in many ways for that Patriots team. A large part of it was redemption for the 1997 season when they went undefeated in the regular season only to lose in the regional and not even make it to Charleston. The one-point loss to Parkersburg in the 1997 regional did not sit well with that Wheeling Park team, all of whom returned the following year.

“We deemed the season before ’21 and uh-oh’ because we were 21-0 going into that regional game and we lost,” Preston explained. “In our minds, we had no doubt that we were going to win a state championship (in 1997) and so the fact that we didn’t even make it there made it a very bitter moment.”

“We never really forgot that feeling,” Preston added. “That feeling really lived in us all season and before the championship game there was just a laser focus and a quiet confidence that we were so locked in to the game and the importance of the game.”

In some ways, failing to reach the state tournament in 1997 helped to motivate the team’s performance the following year.

“We just knew what it felt like to lose,” Lee said. “I think we didn’t want that feeling anymore. It was just like we were never going to have that feeling ever again. My freshman year (1996), we made it down to the state (tournament) and lost. I remember saying if I ever made it there again, we were not losing.”

The final aspect of the victory was a sense of accomplishment for coach Dee Davis. Davis, who had a spectacular playing career of her own for Wheeling Park, was never able to secure a state championship as a player.

“We would always hear stories about her and she has just about every record you can think of at Wheeling Park,” Lee said. “I always teased her in practice that I would beat her records, but her records seem so far out of reach. She would tell us she wished she had a team like us. It felt good to win for her. You could tell she felt accomplished.”

“It was something she had been working towards from the time she was our age,” Preston added. “She, unfortunately, wasn’t able to accomplish it as a player and I think it was the same kind of feeling for her (to win), it was a very ecstatic moment.”

Wheeling Park lost five seniors from that 1998 title team — Preston, Strothers Moore, Shay Glauser, Heather Lee (now Clay) and Jennifer Christenson (now Kincaid) — and yet Lee kept her promise to never lose in the state tournament as the Patriots went on to defeat George Washington 69-35 in the championship in 1999 for back-to-back titles. Lee also won the Mary Ostrowski award in 1999, given to the best girls basketball player in the state.

“I have two titles, but that first one was just special,” Lee said. “That is something that nobody can ever take from us and they’re my forever teammates because of it.

“Still, to this day, I think we were one of the best teams to ever play in the state of West Virginia.”