Oak Glen's Sarah Brown, left, and Reece Enochs pressure Madonna's Jazzy Melnyk on Saturday. -Andrew Grimm

WEIRTON – Early in the young West Virginia season, Oak Glen head coach Scott Wiley has seen his group struggle shooting the basketball, prompting his Golden Bears to spend time working on their shots in practice.

Saturday, that work paid off.

Oak Glen, led by senior Reece Enochs, drained a total of nine 3-pointers on the Joanna Bernabei-McNamee Court to outpace Madonna, 70-58.

“You just hope that one day it’s going to hit – and (Saturday) seemed like it was that day. The girls worked on it, and eventually it was going to come through,” Wiley said.

Some of those triples came just as it seemed Madonna was fighting back into the game, too, as the Golden Bears never let the lead drop below seven in the second half. Oak Glen also forced 26 Madonna turnovers to help the efforts.

“I give Oak Glen credit, they are a very aggressive team,” Madonna head coach Cory Wingett said. “That is how a coach wants a team to play. When there is that type of physicality, it sometimes gets to our heads a little bit if we allow it, and we lose control. Their physicality got the best of us there for a little bit, and they can really shoot, also.

“There was probably at least a half a dozen times where we would cut into their lead, get into a little roll, and before you knew it there’s a 20-plus footer from them hitting the bottom of the net. That’s tough when they can choke off your runs with the deep ball.”

Enochs nailed four shots from the beyond the arc, finishing with a team-high 21 points, while Sarah Brown came off the bench and drained four triples to finish with 14 points. Maddie McKay knocked down the other 3 for Oak Glen, who also went 13 of 20 from the line overall.

“It’s a big relief to see the shots start to fall,” Wiley said. “We really have struggled. We’ve been lucky to make 20 baskets, shooting 70-some times. To have them start to fall, it takes a lot of pressure off of everything else.”

All in all, the Golden Bears (2-3) finished with four players in double figures, as Alexus Greenlief netted 15 points and McKay with 11. McKay led the team with five assists, while the duo tied for the team lead with five boards apiece. Seven of the nine Golden Bears to see the floor factored into the scoring.

“Alexus Greenlief is coming along real well,” Wiley said. “She’s learning to play with her teammates, and that’s a big thing. I have confidence in her. She did a nice job.

“The balance is what you like to see. You don’t want them to be able to focus on just one person. If you can get four or five kids scoring, it really makes a difference.”

They needed every bit of the balanced output, too, in order to overcome a monster performance by Madonna (1-4) senior Jazzy Melnyk, who racked up a game-high 26 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

“I don’t know how to stop that Jazzy girl,” Wiley said. “Geez Louise, I thought she was going to hit 1,000 points (Saturday). She is just a great athlete. She would be at one end of the court, the ball is going out on the other side and she’s over there trying to get it. She’s tough to stop.”

After a very slow start – the game was tied 2-2 midway through the first – Oak Glen found its rhythm with back-to-back 3s to spark a 10-0 run, eventually leading 15-9 at the end of one.

A 7-2 Madonna run in the early portion of the second quarter put the Blue Dons back within three at 19-16, but that would be the last time the game was that close. The Golden Bears rattled off an 11-0 run, an Enochs triple included, then extended the run to 14-2 with another Enochs bomb from beyond the arc.

The Blue Dons slowed the bleeding a little bit, getting back to within 10 at the half at 33-23, but the big second-quarter scoring runs by an opponent were an all-too-familiar sight for Wingett.

“One of our players said it was like Groundhog Day, and she was exactly right,” he said. “Every game, in the second quarter, we’ve allowed teams to create separation from us and get a nine-, 10-, 12-point lead. And, boy, does that put you in the backseat playing against great teams like Oak Glen, Cameron and Trinity.

“I know we do a good job with conditioning, but the emotional and physical effort it takes to get back into it takes a toll. In all four of our losses, the second quarter got away from us. I have to take responsibility for it and find a way to make our second quarters better.”

Madonna went on a 10-2 run in the third to get back to within seven, but back-to-back treys by Enochs and Brown (both off of Madonna turnovers) quickly pushed the lead back up to 13, and the Bears eventually led by 11 going to the fourth.

“I’m not disappointed with anybody’s play; we just have to mentally get stronger,” Wingett said. “We’re getting there, we’re seeing little signs of improvement. That’s a good Oak Glen team. We have to learn to compete all four quarters. We tell the girls it’s a 17- or 18-game season, and we’re playing much bigger schools than us right now. The girls can’t stop believing and can’t stop trusting each other. They have to commit to the process and work our way to the end.”

After again getting the deficit down to seven early in the fourth just to see Oak Glen pull back ahead by double figures, a Vanessa Alatis triple – the lone 3 for the Blue Dons in the game – with 39.7 seconds left again pulled the Blue Dons within seven at 65-58. However, the Golden Bears scored the final five points.

Brown intercepted a pass with eight seconds left to end the final Madonna possession and dribbled out the clock instead of going for the easy layup with the game already decided.

“That was a good show of sportsmanship,” Wingett said of the gesture. “It says a lot about her as a player and person and the Oak Glen coaches.”

JAYVEES

Oak Glen also won a two-quarter jayvee contest, 24-10.

UP NEXT

Oak Glen: Tentatively travels to Linsly Monday.

Madonna: Tentatively hosts Wheeling Central Monday.

Oak Glen 70, Madonna 58

Oak Glen 15 18 15 22 — 70

Madonna 9 14 14 21 — 58

OAK GLEN (2-3): Enochs 6 5-6 21; Greenlief 6 3-4 15; McKay 4 2-4 11; Sy. Brown 0 1-2 1; Kranis 1 2-4 4; Sa. Brown 5 0-0 14; McNutt 1 0-0 2; Barr 0 0-0 0; Kell 1 0-0 2; Barganski 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24, 13-20: 70.

MADONNA (1-4): Lenhart 0 0-0 0; Yacos 0 1-2 1; Martinez 6 0-0 12; Moore 0 0-0 0; Melnyk 13 0-2 26; Backel 2 0-1 4; Alatis 5 2-4 13; Wingett 0 0-0 0; Sole 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 27, 3-9: 58.

3-POINT GOALS: Oak Glen 9 (Enochs 4, Sa. Brown 4, McKay); Madonna 1 (Alatis). ASSISTS: Oak Glen 14 (McKay 5); Madonna 16 (Backel 7). REBOUNDS: Oak Glen 18 (Greenlief 5, McKay 5); Madonna 32 (Melnyk 13). TURNOVERS: Oak Glen 19; Madonna 26.