Big second half propels Big Red past Creek
Steubenville pulls away to avenge earlier loss, reach district championship game
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RICHMOND -- Coming into Wednesday's district semifinal against Indian Creek, it was not lost on Big Red's seniors that the last time the local rivals met in the postseason four years ago, Creek prevailed.
They also remembered leading in the fourth quarter when the teams met in the regular season earlier this season only to see Creek prevail again.
Not this time. They were on a mission to make sure of it.
After the Redskins had used a big second quarter to surge ahead, Steubenville came out of the locker room after halftime on fire and never looked back on the way to a 63-51 victory inside the Edison Field House.
"My four seniors, they've been wanting this," Forte said. "Since we lost their freshman year at Indian Creek, this has been the game that they wanted. (Indian Creek coach) Steve Eft does a great job with his girls, those girls play hard and we know every year it's going to be a battle with them and for us to get where we want to go, it's going to come down to (playing them).
"I'm so proud of these girls for sticking with it from year to year and I am so proud of these seniors for being able to come out and win this game.
"We've talked about how we're a different team (from the beginning of the season), we've improved since (the November meeting) and I know (Creek) has improved as well, but I look at the maturity of these young ladies and the fight that they've developed through the course of the season through the adversity they've faced … I'm so proud of them. They have developed that fight and that's what we saw -- that refuse to lose mentality."
After Creek (21-4), the No. 2 seed, led 28-25 at the break, seventh-seeded Big Red (18-7) started the second half with an 8-0 run to jump ahead. Creek knotted the game at 33-all shortly after, but a 16-3 Steubenville run that spanned into the fourth quarter was more than enough to earn Forte's group a trip to Saturday's district final.
"In the locker room at halftime we said, 'Hey, we took the first quarter and they took the second quarter, so now we've got to come out and play (harder) in the third quarter,'" Forte said. "That's what they did."
A Kylie Anderson triple got Creek within eight inside three minutes to play, and Creek got within seven just inside the two-minute mark, but never any closer and Big Red pulled away for good.
Nylah McShan tallied a game-high 29 points, 18 of which came in the second half to help her team take control.
"She's got that refuse to lose mentality, she's going to go after that rebound, she's going to do whatever she has to do to help her teammates," Forte said of McShan's big night. "It's that way with all of them. They've really bonded and came together. The underclassmen wanted to make sure they gave it their all for the seniors and the seniors were giving it their all -- everybody played their role."
Madelyn Criss, one of those seniors that played in that game in 2021, knocked down back-to-back treys on the key third quarter starting run on her way to a 16-point night with four long-range makes. Fellow senior Aniyah Warner netted 14 points to put four in double digits.
Steubenville opened a 17-7 lead after the first quarter, Criss hitting two 3s in the opening eight minutes, but Creek got going in the second and ultimately rattled off a 14-0 run to take the lead going into the locker rooms.
The momentum, though, did not carry over.
"We didn't come out well, we played a lot better in the second quarter, we were doing the things we talked about coming in," Eft said. "But we didn't come out in the third quarter with the same intensity that (Big Red) did. We talked a lot about having to match their physicality, and I don't think we did a very good job of that and we didn't do a good enough job on the boards. Those were the two keys to the game.
"(Big Red) has some really nice talent and their coaching staff does a great job."
McKenna Scott tallied 19 to lead the Redskins, while Anderson finished with 17 and Gabby Taylor hit three triples for an 11-point night.
Anderson was the lone Creek senior in the lineup with Tori Robertson and Bella Allen out with injuries.
"We're losing three great seniors that left their mark on the program," Eft said. "We talked to them in the locker room, no senior class has graduated with four-straight sectional titles and that's what they did. They'll always have a special place in my heart because I have been with them for so long. We're really going to miss them.
"The last game is always hard, you never want it to end.
"We got to develop some depth with the seniors being hurt, but they've now got to use this as motivation and let it drive them in the offseason. We've got to dedicate ourselves to getting better."
Big Red will look for a third-straight upset of a higher seed when they take on No. 4 seed Carrollton Saturday in the East 1 District Championship. The district announced Wednesday night the game will be played at Harrison Central with a 2 p.m. opening tip.
The Warriors topped No. 6 seed John Glenn, 60-54, on Wednesday night in the other semifinal. Carrollton won a close regular season meeting back in the second week of December. Saturday's winner earns a trip to the regional tournament.
OHSAA East 1 District Semifinal
at Edison High School
No. 7 Steubenville 63, No. 2 Indian Creek 51
Steubenville 17-8-20-18 – 63
Indian Creek 10-18-8-15 – 51
STEUBENVILLE (18-7): Warner 6 2-2 14; Criss 5 2-2 16; Jones 0 0-2 0; McShan 13 3-9 29; Beall 0 0-0 0; Scurry 2 0-0 4; Thomas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26, 7-15; 63.
INDIAN CREEK (21-4): Scott 4 9-10 19; Taylor 3 2-2 11; Sadler 0 0-0 0; Ketron 0 0-0 0; Anderson 4 8-10 17; Walker 2 0-0 4; Westfall 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13, 19-24; 51.
3-POINT GOALS: Steubenville (); Indian Creek 6 (Taylor 3, Scott 2, Anderson).