By NICK HENTHORN
WHEELING – Winning one Mary Ostrowksi award puts someone in rarified air, but Wheeling Park senior Alexis Bordas has carved out a spot in an even more exclusive club, a list that is now three players long.
Bordas has been named the 2025 Mary Ostrowski award winner, given annually to the state’s top girls basketball player by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association, for the third consecutive time in her career, an accomplishment only matched by Ostrowski herself (1977, 1978, 1979) while at Parkersburg Catholic, and Alexis Hornbuckle (2002, 2003, 2004) during her time at Capital and South Charleston.
“Those were tremendous players,” Bordas said. “For Mary O to have the award now named after her, it tells you how incredible she was. Alexis Hornbuckle went on to play at Tennessee, big time program, and she had a great legacy there. To be up there with those types of players, definitely an honor and it makes it even more special to be one of three people to ever do that.”
Bordas had previously joined Ostrowski and Hornbuckle as the only three sophomores to ever win the Player of the Year award.
Coming off her junior season that saw her score almost 24 points per game, the defending Player of the Year managed to find a whole new gear to shift into this season, averaging over 33 points along with six rebounds and four steals per game. She made 101 3’s, and shot over 91% from the foul line (176-193).
“Obviously very honored,” Bordas said of winning the award. “I’m thankful to all the sports writers who voted for me three times now. It means a lot, especially because these are people who write about the games and see all these different players around the state.
“It’s a testament to my hard work. I eat, sleep and breathe basketball, it’s what my life revolves around and I just love the game. To be recognized for all my hard work and my love for the game, it just means a lot.”
Teams certainly had the scouting report on the two-time Mary O winner coming into the year, with Bordas often facing double teams as soon as she crossed half court, or any number of other defensive strategies to take her out of the game.
“She definitely had a different year as far as the defense she had to face,” Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young said. “I thought it was a great challenge for her and I thought she really had to step up. It probably made her a better basketball player. Even if we didn’t have the team success we had last season, we definitely had some great moments and I saw growth from her throughout those moments.
“Her growth as a basketball player this season, to average 33 points in 4A with a very difficult schedule, I think she’s very deserving of this award again. For someone to win it three times, it’s pretty unprecedented. We’re really proud of her and she’s earned it.”
The third straight Mary O is a prestigious final accolade for Bordas in a season full of individual accomplishments.
Bordas broke Wheeling Park’s 44-year old career points record in an early-season road game against Westerville South, going above the old mark of 1,854. She set the Patriots record for points in a game and 3’s in a game against Buckhannon-Upshur this season with 58 points and 13 3-pointers, and she broke the record for career 3-pointers in the Ohio Valley, encompassing parts of W.Va. and Ohio, in a game against Marietta (OH) where she surpassed 350 3-point makes.
Bordas had five games of 40+ points this season, while only having four games where she scored less than 25 points. She scored 47 against Marietta, 40 against University, 58 against BU, and 42 against Nitro– twice– on Feb. 1 and Feb. 15.
“To win these Player of the Year awards three times, to score as many points and make as many 3’s as she did in our progarm’s history, I think it’ll be difficult for somebody to come along and break any of those records,” Young said. “I know records are meant to be broken, and she broke a lot of them, but she also set the bar pretty high for anyone to do it after her.”
Bordas and the Patriots won the Class AAAA state championship last year, and made it to the Region 1 co-final this year. Though Park was not able to make it back to the state tournament, Bordas said this year was still her most enjoyable on the hardwood.
“It was different from the other years in terms of our team and how inexperienced we were, but I tell everyone, this is probably the most fun I’ve had as far as the team and how supportive they were of me, how much fun we had in practice getting better every day,” Bordas said.
“It was very enjoyable even with the challenging defenses every game. That was fun in a way for me, to face those challenges and all those different sorts of defenses. And it was a team effort, it takes a whole team to break a box-and-one or a double team. Setting screens, making good passes, the play-calling from coach Young, it was an entire team effort and my teammates couldn’t have done anything more to help me and they were very happy for me with every record that I broke. That meant a lot to me and even with all the challenges it was a very fun season overall.”
Bordas ends her career with 2,606 points.
“I think she’s definitely a leader,” Young said. “She has been a leader on our team probably since she was a sophomore– first year, you come in and you’re feeling things out. She has a lot of those qualities we want out of a leader as far as setting an example. She’s always going hard in practice, she shows teammates what to do.
“From a leadership standpoint she was phenomenal throughout her years at Wheeling Park. She set the bar really high not just from an individual standpoint but from a team standpoint. She’s exceeded all expectations I ever had for her and I already had pretty high ones.”
The Wheeling Park senior has made the WVSWA All-State first team each year of her career and has been captain of the first team the last three years. With Bordas signing with Duquesne University’s girls basketball team earlier this school year, a new chapter for the Patriot standout will be coming soon. Bordas was able to recall her very first game in the red, white and blue, and think about what she’d tell her past self.
“I’d say that it goes by really fast,” Bordas said. “To be in the moment and enjoy it all because it goes by in the blink of an eye. I still remember my first game; waking up that day, getting Starbucks, everything I did that day to prepare for John Marshall. Then fast forward to our last game, it went by really fast.”
Bordas will depart for the Pittsburgh-based college next year, but she leaves behind an impeccable legacy at Wheeling Park High School.
“I think that they’ll probably look at her and see she was able to do things that no player before her– and I think it’ll be difficult for any player after her to achieve,” Young said. “If you look at Wheeling Park’s scoring record, our top scorer in school history was under 1,900 points, she scored over 2,600 points. That alone tells you what she was able to accomplish.”
“The thing I’ll remember most is definitely the state championship, that was the best feeling in the world,” Bordas said. “Looking back at all the videos and pictures, I still just get so happy looking at those. But, eventually I’ll forget all the points and games, but I’ll always have the friendships I’ve made. Even the people who graduated when I was a freshman, I still talk to them. My teammates and coaches, I’ll be thankful for them forever– and winning that state championship.”
Other players who received votes for the 2025 Mary Ostrowski Award included Spring Valley’s Sophi Hutchison, Morgantown’s Kayli Kellogg, Wheeling Central’s Kaitlyn Blake and George Washington’s Jeriyah Pryor.
