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No. 5 Catholic Central drains Indian Creek

REBOUNDING — Steubenville Catholic Central’s Isabella Oliver pulls down a rebound while Indian Creek’s Kylie Kiger on Thursday. Also shown are Central’s Tia Taglione (14) and Christina Dambrowski (13) as well as Creek’s Tera Parrish. (Photo by Joe Catullo)

WINTERSVILLE — No. 5 Steubenville Catholic Central pitched a first quarter shutout on its way to a 49-34 victory over Indian Creek in Thursday’s showdown between OVAC girls basketball leaders.

Fueled by six Julia Zatta points, the now 12-2 Crusaders raced out to a 12-0 lead after the opening eight minutes. The Redskins, who fell to 10-2, got their offense going in the second quarter, outscoring their guests 9-6. Hailie Scott netted four for Creek while Tera Parish knocked down a triple.

Both teams registered 10 points in the third. After Central, the top team in Class 2A of the OVAC, increased its lead to double figures in the fourth thanks to baskets by Grace Godich and Brantley Turnage, Creek, which leads the conference’s Class 5A ranks, drew to within eight on a MacKenzie Orban triple and a hoop by Kacie Vandeborne.

Zatta and Tia Taglione thwarted the Redskin threat by draining back-to-back long balls. Zatta, a junior guard, tallied eight of Central’s 21 final quarter points.

“I’m just so happy for my girls, especially after the way we played in losing to Linsly Monday,” Central coach Jess Looman said. “They worked extremely hard and played with such determination tonight. We had a good game plan and the girls stuck with it.

“Indian Creek is a very good basketball team. They play great defense and have some real offensive threats as well. Fortunately, we played very well defensively, held them to one shot numerous times especially early and got some stops when we needed them. I also thought our guards (Taglione, Zatta and Christine Dombrowski) did OK against Creek’s defensive pressure.”

Zatta took game-scoring honors with 16 while Taglione finished with 11. Godich added eight and Turnage seven. Bella Oliver hauled down 11 rebounds to pace Central.

“Those back-to-back threes Julia and Tia knocked down were huge,” Looman said. “We knew Creek wouldn’t quit and they had a nice run going. Those shots really helped us get back some momentum in the fourth

“All seven of my varsity players contributed tonight, and that was great to see. This group continues to work really well together. There still are a lot of things we need to work on but, overall, I think we are getting closer to where we want to be.”

Scott had eight points to pace the Redskins. Orban contributed seven while Vandeborne and Taylor Jones added six apiece.

“They’re ranked for a reason,” Creek coach Jackie Rossi said. “They came out and played their game well. They exploited our weaknesses. We’re going to see three teams that are going to play zone against us. We need to learn how to play against that or this will be the end result every time. It’s time to regroup and refocus.

“We held them in the 40s. I like our chances when we do that, but their defense was better than ours tonight. We weren’t very aggressive against their zone. They had a ton of blocked shots.”

Godich rejected five shots for Central while Turnage swatted away four.

Rossi and company are back in action Saturday with a home game against East Liverpool. Junior varsity action begins at 1 p.m. The Redskins will visit Brooke on Monday before getting a rematch on the road at Central next Thursday.

Central hosts Madonna Monday and visits Toronto Wednesday before hosting Creek on Thursday.

“We know Indian Creek will be ready when we see them again next week,” Looman said. “It should be another exciting game and a fun environment.”

Game notes:

≤ Three players reached double figures as Indian Creek rolled to a 53-13 victory in the junior varsity contest. MacKenzie Taylor and Haley Clark had 12 apiece for the Redskins while Taylor Scott added 10. Edy Harold scored five for Central.

Catholic Central 49, Indian Creek 34

Central 12-6-10-21 — 49

Creek 0-9-10-15 — 34

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (12-2): Zatta 6 2-3 16; Turnage 3 1-2 7; Dombrowski 1 1-2 3; Taglione 5 0-0 11; Godich 4 0-0 8; Oliver 1 2-2 4; Olszewski 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-9 49.

INDIAN CREEK (10-2): Cooper 0 0-0 0; Kiger 0 0-0 0; Tweedy 0 0-0 0; Parrish 1 0-2 3; Taylor 0 0-0 0; Yaich 1 2-2 4; Scott 2 4-4 8; Vandeborne 3 0-0 6; Jones 1 4-10 6; Orban 3 0-0 7. TOTALS: 11 10-18 37.

3-POINT GOALS: Catholic Central (Zatta 2, Taglione 1); Indian Creek (Parrish, Orban),

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