STEUBENVILLE — The Catholic Central girls basketball team heated up outside on a cold winter day.

Catholic Central tallied seven 3-pointers — six coming in the first half — against rival Madonna as the Crusaders defeated the Blue Dons, 53-32, in a varsity-only game Saturday afternoon at the Franciscan Community Invitational on Hank Kuzma Court inside the Finnegan Fieldhouse on the campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

The Crusaders’ seventh 3-pointer gave the victors a 41-12 lead early in the third quarter.

“We shot well early (Saturday),” Catholic Central (6-4) head coach Rocky Bragg said. “That was one of our strong points. We shot the ball well early. We got out quick. We were steady with our shot selection.

“It was another game where we were able to give our younger girls some minutes to help them develop their game. At times, we were out of sync. That is something we are going to have to work on moving forward. We are going to have to work on game situations at practice. You don’t want to have a letdown. I was worried about our team chemistry when we changed our lineup.

“Madonna is a young team. Coach Wingett does a great job. His kids play hard. They played hard until the end. I have to give them credit.”

After falling behind by 29 points, Madonna countered with an 18-4 run to pull within 45-30, however, that was as close as the Blue Dons were able to get.

“There were two big things in the game,” Madonna (3-7) head coach Cory Wingett said. “In the first half, what really affected us and my assistant coaches talked about it so well was defensively, we lost our focus, our effort and our aggressiveness in the second quarter. We are a team that has to be gritty, we have to get loose balls and we have to rebound in order for us to have success. That is how our engine is built.

“Catholic Central shot 66 percent from 3 in the first half. I can’t take anything away from Catholic Central. That is an extremely high shooting percentage.

“In the second half, we did the little things. We got after it, we got on the floor, we rebounded and we had success. We went on a run in the second half, and we cut it down to 15 at one point. I am very proud of the way we played in the third quarter. If we could have gotten the game under 10, anything could have happened.

“We did a great job in the third and fourth quarters, especially in the third. We just need to play four quarters like that. If we can do that, we will do well.

“We did not give up. We challenged the girls at halftime. It could have been easy for us to run away and hide and lose by 30, but we didn’t. We fought back and made it competitive.”

The Dons outscored the Crusaders 10-7 in the third and 10-8 in the fourth.

Catholic Central built a 17-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, and the Crusaders increased their advantage to 38-12 at halftime after outscoring the Blue Dons, 21-4, in the second.

“It was a huge blessing for us to be here,” Bragg said. “It was a beautiful event that Franciscan University put on. We’re the only two local Catholic high schools in the area, and it is great for us to be included in this event.

“It is something Coach (Iliana) Spoelman and I worked on. We talked in the spring. We continued to communicate in the summer and the fall. She did a great job. She had a lot of support. She did a fantastic job. It was a great event. She did a fantastic job.”

Spoelman is in her second season as head coach of the Franciscan women’s basketball team.

“I can not say enough about how much we appreciate Franciscan University and coach Iliana Spoelman and all the volunteers,” Wingett said. “We said more thank yous today than we did in all of 2024.

“It is special for the kids. It is a special memory. It is what high school is about. Wins and losses come and go, but these special events and memories will last a lifetime.”

Three players produced double digits to lead the way offensively for the Crusaders. Individually, Mara Delaney delivered a game-high 17 points, while Mary Rhode and Natalie Cherepko each collected 16 points. Rohde tallying 19 boards for a double-double. Cherepko contributed four 3-pointers in the win, while Delaney made three shots from beyond the arc.

Christany Bartley and Madi Owens each tallied 11 points to lead the way for the Dons. Adalynne Welsh tallied 10 rebounds.

Madonna scored the first basket of the game, however, Catholic Central scored the next nine points to go up 9-2. The Blue Dons battled back and pulled within 9-8, however, the Crusaders scored the final eight points of the quarter to take a nine-point lead at the end of the first.

Catholic Central drained three shots from long range in the second as they extended their advantage out to 26 points at halftime.

The Blue Dons scored 12 of the next 14 points to pull within 43-22 before the Crusaders hit a pair of free throws to take a 23-point advantage into the fourth.

Madonna scored the first eight points of the fourth to close to within 15 points, but Catholic Central was able to regroup before pulling away.

Bill Barrett, who the gym at Madonna is named after, died Dec. 30 at the age of 88 in Weirton.

“Mr. B was instrumental in my early years as a coach at Madonna,” Bragg said. “He offered me a lot of guidance. He helped me transition to the varsity level. He was just a great person. He was someone you could look up to. It said for the Catholic Central and Madonna families that we lost a very good person. He really cared about people. He was proud to represent Madonna.”

Barrett was a 1954 graduate of Catholic Central, and he began his teaching career at Madonna in 1962. Barrett was a social studies teacher for 53 years. Barrett served as the Blue Dons’ Athletic Director for 23 years, and he was the baseball coach for seven years.

“Mr. B was a legend at Madonna,” Wingett said. “You are not going to find anyone at Madonna or anyone who is affiliated with Madonna for the last 40 or 50 years that does not have a special story about him. Every school has one or two people in the history of the school that are legends, and he is definitely one of them for Madonna.”

The Blue Dons have a busy week as Madonna is scheduled to play Toronto tonight — weather permitting — on the road inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium before playing Bridgeport Wednesday and Hundred Saturday.

Catholic Central is slated to play Oak Glen Thursday on the road before playing Frontier Saturday afternoon.

“Frontier is in first place in the OVAC in Class 1A,” Bragg said. “Our games against Oak Glen are always very competitive. We are going to get back into the gym and prepare and get ready to play Oak Glen Thursday.”

The Crusades defeated the Golden Bears, 44-25, Dec. 9 at home inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium.

Catholic Central 53, Madonna 32

Madonna 8 4 10 10 – 32

Catholic Central 17 21 7 8 – 53

MADONNA (3-7): G. Birkhimer 2 0-0 7, R. Birkhimer 2 0-0 5, Welsh 0 1-2 1, Bartley 4 1-2 11, Owens 5 1-5 11, Brady 0 0-0 0, Ryan 0 0-0 0, Littleton 0 0-0 0. TOTALS:3 3-11 32.

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (6-4): Rhode 7 2-2 16, Cherepko 6 0-0 16, Hoover 1 0-0 2, Bolster 0 2-5 2, Delaney 7 0-0 17, Rigaud 0 0-0 0, Balabin 0 0-0 0, Fink 0 0-0 0, Dankert 0 0-0 0, Garcia 0 0-0 0, Lathem 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 4-7 523.

3-POINTERS: Madonna 3 (Bartley 2, R. Birkhimer); Catholic Central 7 (Cherepko 4, Delaney 3)