BIG GAME — Big Red's Nylah McShan puts up a shot against Dover during Saturday's district quarterfinal. - Andrew Grimm

The moment arose for Nylah McShan in Saturday afternoon’s Division III, East/Southeast District quarterfinal.

After Big Red led by just a point after the first quarter and went just 1 of 16 from the field in the opening eight minutes, the senior standout took over in the second quarter.

McShan went 4 for 4 shooting in the second quarter, putting up nine of her game-high 24 points while forcing steals and wreaking havoc defensively to spark Steubenville to a 49-31 victory over Dover inside the Crimson Center.

McShan, who will continue her basketball career at Clarion University next year, grabbed seven rebounds and had five steals — both team-highs — to go with three assists. After starting 1 for 4 from the field, she made eight of her last 10 attempts and also went 5 for 6 from the foul line.

Big Red's Lucy Saccoccia takes the ball to the hoop on Saturday. - Andrew Grimm

“She is hungry,” Big Red head coach Angie Forte said of McShan. “She has a desire to keep winning and a desire to keep this season going. She’s determined and that motivates the rest of the team to match her energy.

“A lot of people talk about Nylah on the offensive end of the court not realizing how good of a defender she is.”

The victory was Big Red’s 22nd of the season, setting a new school record. They had previously tied the mark of 21 set by the 1984-85 team coached by Roger Micker, and now it will be the 2025-26 unit going on the top of record board outside the locker room.

“It’s awesome,” Forte said. “I never played for coach Micker or coach (Barry) Gullen, but I felt like I did. When I came over here to start teaching and coaching, they took me under their wings, they showed me the way and talked me through things. To be able to carry on that legacy and have the accomplishments we have and be mentioned in the same sentence as a coach with coach Micker and coach Gullen is surreal.”

While it was an uneven day shooting for Steubenville, finishing 36.5 percent overall, the defense was there the whole way. Big Red, the top seed in the East District side of the bracket, forced the fifth-seeded Crimson Tornadoes (5-18) into 24 turnovers and racked up 14 steals on the day.

Big Red's Mikah Taylor drives to the basket against Dover on Saturday. - Andrew Grimm

“That’s exactly what we talked about after the game, to be able to win a game like that and not have shot well, they stepped up in other ways and found other ways to score and make a difference,” Forte said. “We played phenomenal defense. They got up the floor and caused turnovers. We ask them for 32 minutes of basketball and they played hard for 32 minutes. Dover didn’t stop, they played hard and play physical and they’re well-coached. They came after us and our girls responded.”

Despite not getting shots to fall early on, Big Red scored the first seven points of the game — five of which came from the foul line — before the visitors scored the last six to make it a one point game after one.

McShan got going — and her team with her — early in the second quarter as Big Red rattled off a 7-0 run to jump ahead and led by nine at halftime. After the 1 for 16 start, Big Red shot 70 percent in the second quarter.

The lead went to 15 after three quarters as Steubenville continued to push ahead.

After a Phynux Fleming (11 points, four rebounds, two steals, assist, block) triple made the lead 18 early in the fourth, Dover had one more big push as Ansley Bollon (team-high 12 points) hit 3s on back-to-back possessions and the margin got back down to 11, but Big Red went the other way and got a 3 from Lucy Saccoccia (seven points) and pushed the lead back out to as many as 20 on the way to winning by 18.

UP NEXT

Big Red advances to meet No. 3 seed Tri-Valley in the East/Southeast semifinals on Wednesday night inside the Hangar at Union Local High School. The opening tip is set for 6 p.m. The Scotties toppled No. 2 seed Zanesville, 53-36, on Saturday in their quarterfinal.

Wednesday’s winner will advance to meet the Southeast District side of the bracket next Saturday for a spot in the regional tournament.

OHSAA Girls Basketball Tournament

Division III East/Southeast District Quarterfinal

No. 1 Steubenville 49, No. 5 Dover 31

D 6-7-6-12 — 31

S 7-15-12-15 — 49

DOVER (5-18): McCue 2-6 1-2 6; Festi 0-1 0-0 0; Sines 3-7 0-0 6; Bullon 4-9 0-0 12; Immel 1-3 0-0 2; Minnis 2-3 1-1 5; Blind 0-1 0-0 0; Klaserner 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12-30, 2-3; 31.

STEUBENVILLE (22-1): Bowers 1-5 1-2 3; Saccoccia 2-9 2-2 7; Fleming 5-8 0-0 11; McShan 9-14 5-6 24; Beall 0-4 0-0 0; Taylor 0-6 0-0 0; Thompson 2-5 0-0 4; Younce 0-0 0-0 0; Green 0-0 0-0 0; Scurry 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-52; 8-10; 49.

3-POINTERS: Dover 5-11 (Bollon 4, McCue); Steubenville 3-10 (Saccoccia, Fleming, McShan). ASSISTS: Dover 10 (McCue 3); Steubenville 11 (Bowers 4). REBOUNDS: Dover 22 (Bollon 5); Steubenville 20 (McShan 7). STEALS: Dover 5 (McCue 2, Sines 2); Steubenville 14 (McShan 5). BLOCKS: Dover 2 (Festi, Immel); Steubenville 1 (Fleming). TURNOVERS: Dover 24; Steubenville 13.