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Zatta finds shot, leads CCHS past Bridgeport

DRIVING DOWN — Steubenville Catholic Central’s Grace Godich drives against Bridgeport’s Marissa Beal on Wednesday. (Photo by Joe Catullo)

STEUBENVILLE — Catholic Central girls basketball coach Jess Looman has been waiting for Julia Zatta to find her shooting touch.

That wait ended Wednesday in the opener of the 2017 Chuck Watt/John Nese Holiday Classic, played inside Big Red’s Crimson Center.

Zatta, a junior guard, knocked down a game-high 20 points, nine coming via the long ball, as the Crusaders posted a 50-37 victory over Bridgeport.

The victory gave Looman’s club, winners of seven straight, a season-sweep of the Bulldogs. The now 9-1 Crusaders currently lead the OVAC Class 2A standings.

“Julia’s a pure shooter and she’s been struggling lately,” Looman said. “It was great to see her step up and knock some critical three-pointers for us today. We’ve been waiting for her to bust loose and, hopefully, today’s performance will give her some confidence going forward.

“This was a great win for us. We have a lot of respect for Bridgeport. They’ve played a strong schedule and their record is no indication of how talented they are. We started strong on the defensive end, got our offense going in the second quarter and were able to close things out down the stretch.”

Central led 5-3 after the opening period and was up 20-15 at the intermission. Zatta, who earned game MVP honors, and Christine Dombrowski knocked down four points each during the frame while Tia Taglione nailed a triple.

The Crusaders got their offense rolling in the third, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-7 to build a double-digit lead. Two fourth quarter triples by Zatta helped Central go up by 17, but Bridgeport wasn’t about to fold. With standout senior guard Marissa Beal scoring 11 of her team-high 16 points and defense turning up the pressure, coach Greg Harkness’ squad cut the deficit to seven.

Four Zatta free throw makes and a deuce from Dombrowski allowed the Crusaders to put the victory on ice.

“You’re asking a lot to come from 17 points down with about six minutes left,” Harkness said. “I thought, however, that we gave it a good shot, cutting it to seven with a couple of chances to cut it even lower.

“I was proud of the way our girls never quit. Give Central credit, we didn’t give it to them. They made some shots when they needed them and moved the ball well on offense.”

Zatta also pointed to Central’s offensive movement as a key to the win.

“I thought we did a much better job today of working the ball around,” she said. “The ball movement gave us all some really good looks at the basket.

“I tried to slow myself down and really focus on getting my feet set. That along with all the shooting we do in practice really helped. Hopefully, I can keep it going.”

Dombrowski contributed 10 points for Central while Taglione finished with seven.

“We still have plenty of things to work on but I’m really proud of our effort to date,” Looman said. “We’re making way too many fundamental mistakes at times, but I know this group will continue to work hard and focus on improving. We still have some really tough matchups ahead of us but we’re certainly happy to be 9-1.

“We had a few minutes in the fourth quarter where we just kind of fell apart. But, fortunately, the girls rebounded and finished the game on a 6-0 run. What I really like about this team is our offensive balance. We have seven girls capable of stepping up and leading us in scoring. It was Julia today but it could be someone different the next time around.”

Lauren Neer and Angela Sommer both drained a couple of 3-pointers for Bridgeport, which falls to 1-7.

“Central has some nice size inside and we were content just to jack up threes again, the same thing we did in our first game against them,” Harkness said. “We wanted to punch gaps more in their zone and try to get the ball into the high post to see if we could get some easier shots.

“For three quarters, we settled for a lot of jump shots. When they are not going in, you’re going to have trouble scoring. Once we started struggling, Central packed in it even more, invited us to take those shots and we took them.”

The Bulldogs return to action Saturday with a road game at Martins Ferry.

“This was the fifth time we played Central in two seasons, both teams know each other really well,” Harkness said. “That shows at times. Sometimes when you know each other well, it comes down to making some shots. They were able to more shots than we did in building a lead.

“Give them credit, they have a good record for a reason. When you look at our schedule, we’ve played Shadyside, Bellaire, River, Shenandoah and Central twice. If you look at their combined record, it’s pretty good. We know where we are and where we have to get to. The front end of our schedule has been pretty loaded, but the girls still are working hard and that’s what matters.”

Central will head to Mayfield, located near Cleveland, Saturday for a unique prep basketball matchup. The Division I Wildcats are coached by Looman’s older brother, Ryan.

“We’re really excited about going up there to play,” the Central coach said. “We know it will be a really tough test but it also should be so much fun coaching against my brother. We hope to represent our school well.”

Game notes:

Edy Harold, Carly Fayak and Bri DeChristopher scored eight points each as Central earned a 38-27 victory in the junior varsity game. Bridgeport freshman Meleah Tiber netted a game-high 13 points.

Catholic Central 50, Bridgeport 37

Bridgeport 3 -12-7-15 — 37

Central 5 -15-15-15 — 50

BRIDGEPORT (1-7): Beal 5 4-4 16; Dulesky 1 2-2 4; Tucker 0 0-0 0; Neer 2 0-0 6; Sommer 2 0-0 6; Conaway 0 0-0 0; Matheny 2 1-3 5. Totals 12 7-9 37.

CENTRAL (9-1): Zatta 6 5-6 20; Turnage 1 2-2 4; Dombrowski 4 1-2 10; Taglione 3 0-2 7; Godich 1 0-0 2; Oliver 1 3-8 5; Olszewski 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17 11-20 50.

3-POINT GOALS: Bridgeport (Beal 2, Neer 2, Sommer 2); Central (Zatta 3, Dombrowski, Taglione)

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