Big Red fends off Central for season sweep
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STEUBENVILLE -- The second meeting between city foes Big Red and Catholic Central was certainly a lot different than the first.
However, it was still the Crimson and Black celebrating after the final buzzer.
After the Crusaders tied the game late in the third quarter, Big Red scored 20 of the next 25 points to pull away for a 52-39 victory to seal a city championship sweep of their cross-town rivals.
"The girls work hard and their conditioning paid off," Big Red head coach Angie Forte said. "These games are always exciting; we know our kids are going to play hard for it and we always know Central is going to play hard against us. It was a hard-fought game throughout.
"I'm proud of my girls for not folding and stepping up and getting the win. It's a huge confidence builder (to get back in the win column after a couple losses)."
Big Red won the first meeting by a much wider 57-29 margin at home during the Watt/Nese Classic in December. Despite that, Forte was not surprised at all that Central gave them a challenge most of the way Thursday.
"Central did a great job, they kept coming and kept coming," Forte said. "We did a little bit of pushing (ahead) and they would fight back. They're working hard and improving, Rocky (Bragg) is doing a great job of getting those girls to play together and play hard.
"I was happy that our girls were able to withstand the runs and keep pushing."
After Big Red (14-6) had surged ahead 32-23 in the third quarter, Central (9-13) rallied with nine-straight points to knot the score at 32-32. Big Red scored the next five before an Anna Arai (16 points) triple late in the quarter made it a two-point game going to the fourth quarter.
From there, though, Big Red went on a 15-2 run to pull away.
"The girls did a good job of finishing the game off," Forte said.
The Crusaders' shooters went cold in the fourth quarter, not making a shot from the floor and getting just four free throw makes in the final eight minutes, and Big Red turned up the defense to close out the sweep.
"Of all times (to go cold), it had to be the fourth quarter when we needed (to score)," Central coach Rocky Bragg said. "More than us (going cold), I give the credit to Big Red putting the pressure on us. They showed their experience. They did a great job, they knew when to apply the pressure to create the turnover they needed to change the momentum of the game when they needed to. My hat's off to coach Forte and her team.
"That's the city championship, Big Red is a 5A school that made the OVAC final four. We didn't do as well the last time we faced them … this time we were able to keep our composure throughout for the most part. Our game plan worked, our girls were ready to play, the attitude was right. I can't be disappointed with this effort.
"We're going to get there, we're going to take the step we need to and keep working hard."
Nylah McShan led Big Red's balanced effort with a game-high 20 points, while Madelyn Criss hit a pair of triples and netted 13 and Bailee Beall got all 12 of her points on four long-range makes.
Beall's back-to-back triples in the fourth quarter after McShan had converted on an and-one the possession before, swung the momentum in Big Red's favor for good with a quick nine-point swing.
Natalie Cherepko backed up Arai's effort for Central with 15 points, also hitting four treys.
UP NEXT
Big Red: Has another week between games before traveling to Brooke next Thursday.
Central: Has wrapped up the regular season and is idle until hosting Bishop Rosecrans in the opening round of the Divsion IV, East District sectional tournament on Feb. 19.
Big Red 52, Central 39
Big Red 18-7-12-15 – 52
Central 16-5-14-4 – 39
BIG RED (14-6): Warner 2 0-0 4; Scurry 0 1-2 1; Criss 4 3-4 13; Jones 1 0-0 2; McShan 8 4-6 20; Beall 4 0-0 12. TOTALS: 19, 8-12; 52.
CENTRAL (9-13): Rohde 1 1-4 3; Cherepko 4 3-4 15; Maragos 0 0-0 0; O'Karma 2 0-0 5; Arai 5 6-13 16; Marcino 0 0-0 0; Delaney 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12, 10-21; 39.
3-POINT GOALS: Big Red 6 (Beall 4, Criss 2); Central 5 (Cherepko 4, O'Karma 1).