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Saccoccia sends Big Red to 5A title game

Clutch shot gives Big Red a victory over defending champ Wheeling Park

REACTION — Big Red’s Lucy Saccoccia reacts to her shot at the buzzer going through the hoop to win the game as teammates rush to join her. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — In a semifinal game that featured two of the top players in the OVAC — Wheeling Park’s Alexis Bordas and Big Red’s Nylah McShan — going head-to-head, it was neither of them that had the ball in their hands with the game on the line.

Instead, it was a freshman — Big Red’s Lucy Saccoccia.

After a timeout to draw up one last play with the score knotted up with 3.1 seconds left, she was the one on the receiving end of an inbound pass with just enough time to let a deep shot go, and the ninth grader’s high, arcing shot swished the net as the clock hit zeroes, sending the Big Red student section onto the court, fans and players alike into a frenzy and Steubenville to the Class 5A title game with a 44-41 victory over defending conference champion Wheeling Park.

“I’m so excited for her, that’s a big moment for her and her confidence,” Big Red head coach Angie Forte said. “To be able to knock down that shot in a huge moment like that is big for her, even prior to that moment every player on the team had confidence in her. It’s really awesome to see her knock down that shot and bring us the victory.

“Park is a great program, not just a great team this year but a great program. For our girls to come out and compete with them and be able to get this victory, I’m just so proud of them. The girls believed in themselves from the opening tip.”

STORMING THE COURT — Big Red’s student section rushes onto the court to pile in on the celebration after Lucy Saccoccia’s game-winning shot against Wheeling Park Monday night in the OVAC Class 5A tournament semifinals. - Andrew Grimm

Saccoccia, who has been a key piece of the starting line up for Steubenville all season and has improved with each game, gave herself and her teammates a moment none of them will soon forget and a bit of revenge as the defending conference and West Virginia Class AAA state champion Patriots had defeated Big Red in last year’s OVAC tournament semis and earlier in the regular season this year, both also inside the Crimson Center.

“She is a tough kid,” Forte added of the freshman that tallied seven points, four rebounds and three assists in the win. “She comes to practice and works hard every day. She stays after practice and gets shots up and does all the little things I ask her to do. I’m so happy for her.”

A Cianna Scurry triple on the Steubenville possession prior had given Big Red (13-6) a 41-38 lead with just over a minute to go, but Bordas, the two-time Gatorade Player of the Year award winner and Duquesne University recruit, answered with a 3 at the other end and was fouled in the process, but had her only miss from the line in 11 attempts leave the score knotted at 41, setting up Saccoccia’s late heroics.

The game had the dramatic finish because of another second-half rally from Park (11-7), which also rallied in its win in the prior meeting this season after trailing in the fourth quarter of that game.

Big Red had scored the first four points of the game and rattled off a 10-0 run late in the first, leading by nine at both the end of the first and second quarters and forced the Patriots into 12 first half turnovers, several of which resulted in points the other way for Big Red.

Big Red’s Nylah McShan works to keep the ball away from Wheeling Park’s Karrington Miller and Alexis Bordas. - Andrew Grimm

Big Red’s defense had limited Bordas to just eight first half points and one field goal in the first two quarters, keeping her at bay for most of the first three quarters.

Late in the third, however, she got going — scoring eight-straight points on her own with three quick steals she turned two and-ones and third bucket in a span of less than 30 seconds. She kicked the ball out to Maggie Hupp for a 3 on the next possession to give Park its first lead of the game with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

Big Red, though, responded as Beall (nine points) sunk a triple at the other end to make it 31-30 Big Red going to the fourth.

Both teams took turns with the lead in the final eight minutes, Big Red opening a five-point lead, just to see Park storm back with six-straight points to go back in front.

Beall hit her third of three treys with 2:38 to go, swapping the lead again, and this time Park wouldn’t get it back, Bordas tying it two more times before Saccoccia’s buzzer beater.

Big Red’s Phynyx Fleming attempts a shot over top of Wheeling Park’s Kaylee Hunt. - Andrew Grimm

“We talked about riding the waves, we knew there were going to be waves, ups and downs in the game,” Forte said. “We knew Bordas was gonna hit shots and get some and-ones, the message was to stay steady through that and keep playing hard. We felt like if we could stay steady, we could give ourselves a chance to come out on top.

“Our defense played their tails off, everyone stepped up and did what we needed them to do … I think as a collective team we played really hard and did what we needed to do. I’m so proud of the whole group.”

Bordas, despite the slow start, still finished with a game-high 27 points, three rebounds and three assists. She scored 19 of her points in the second half. Hupp followed with eight points and four rebounds for the Patriots, while Kaylee Hunt pulled down 11 rebounds.

“We did not come ready to play and did not have a very good first half,” Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young said. “We fought hard to come back, but you can’t spend all that energy on having to come back because you weren’t ready to go at the start, I think that was the difference in the game. Give Steubenville credit, they played really hard.

“Their defense was giving us some trouble in the first half, a lot of that was us needing to make better decisions. We started to attack it more and got better as the game went on, but you can’t get in that big of a hole like we did.”

For Big Red, McShan led the way with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Beall had nine points, three rebounds and three assists and Phynyx Fleming, another freshman in the Big Red lineup, tallied eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Big Red will take on top Morgantown, who defeated University in the other Class 5A semifinal, for the conference championship. That game will be played at noon on Saturday at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville.

Wheeling Park will play the Hawks in the consolation game on Thursday.

OVAC Class 5A semifinal

at Steubenville High School

No. 2 Steubenville 44, No. 3 Wheeling Park 41

WP 7-8-15-11 – 41

S 16-8-7-13 – 44

WHEELING PARK (11-7): Miller 1 0-0 2; Hupp 3 0-0 8; Hunt 1 0-0 2; Daugherty 0 0-0 0; Bordas 8 10-11 27; Dalton 0 0-0 0; Neider 0 0-0 0; Schroeder 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 14, 10-11; 41.

STEUBENVILLE (13-6): Saccoccia 3 0-0 7; Scurry 2 0-0 6; Fleming 4 0-2 8; McShan 7 0-8 14; Beall 3 0-0 9; Vein 0 0-0 0; Bickerstaff 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18, 0-10; 44. 

3-POINTERS: Wheeling Park 3 (Hupp 2, Bordas); Steubenville 6 (Beall 3, Scurry 2, Saccoccia). ASSISTS: Wheeling Park 9 (Hunt 5); Steubenville 14 (Saccoccia, Scurry, McShan, Beall 3 each). REBOUNDS: Wheeling Park 25 (Hunt 11); Steubenville 33 (Fleming 12). TURNOVERS: Wheeling Park 13; Steubenville 17.

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