GOING UP — Weir High’s Olivia Baker attempts a shot while being defended by John Marshall’s Emily Groves during Wednesday’s game on Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl Hamill Field House. -- Andrew Grimm

WEIRTON — Coming in to Wednesday night’s game, John Marshall coach Brock Melko felt like his team’s size advantage could pay dividends against a young, but aggressive, Weir High squad.

It was evident he was correct in that assessment right from the start of his team’s 69-42 triumph on the Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl Hamill Field House, as John Marshall opened a 19-2 lead through the first eight minutes and never let the lead fall below double figures after that.

“We knew coming in what our advantage was,” Melko said. “Weir plays hard and plays aggressive with their guards, but they don’t have much size. We came in and tried to impose our will at the basket. When we focused on doing that, we were good.”

The size disparity was evident in the rebounding category, as John Marshall held a 27-11 advantage overall and 13-3 in the opening half.

In that opening quarter onslought which proved to be too much for the Red Riders (1-7) to rally back from, Kaitlyn Blake netted 14 of her game-high 24 points (14 of the first 16 her team scored) on her way to a double-double with 10 rebounds while also dishing two assists.

“She’s tough,” Melko said. “We’ve been saying that, most nights, we can force other teams to have to adjust to her. I don’t know of many teams that are going to be able to guard Kaitlyn one-on-one. That is what we have been trying to establish is getting her the ball and make them adjust. If they don’t adjust, we just keep going back to her.

“She’s also a good passer out of double teams as well. That is our mentality going forward, get the ball inside, make them stop it with more than one defender and open up stuff up for everyone else.”

All-in-all, the Monarchs (4-4) put four of the starting five in double figures as Kayli Derrow finished with 17 points, Landyn Helms 12 and Catherine Hunnell 10.

Helms finished an assist shy of a double-double in her own right.

After the rough start, though, Red Riders did not pack it in, as Olivia Baker connected on an old-fashioned 3-point play in the second quarter to spur an 11-5 Weir High run to cut the deficit down to 11 points.

“I never complain about the effort, they are all competitive and want to win,” Weir High coach Rick Stead said. “They all try hard every day. We’re just in a situation where we’re young and playing a tough schedule. We have to keep them together and keeping improving.

“I hate to keep saying it, but at times we’ve got all freshmen and sophomore on the floor, we have two juniors … they do things well at times, and at times we miss a rotation or something.”

Derrow drained one of her three triples in the game the other way to slow the building Weir momentum, then Hunnell connected on a trey as time expired in the half to make it a 36-17 JM lead at the break.

She made back-to-back buckets early in the third quarter to push the lead to 25, before the Red Riders again got some offense going to trade buckets back-and-forth.

Janai Turner netted eight of her 10 points in the third quarter for the Red Riders, while Sophia Aperfine collected eight of her team-leading 14 points in the third to help Weir score 20 points and keep the deficit at 18 going to the fourth.

Once the final quarter began, however, the Monarchs quickly squashed any doubts about the outcome as Derrow connected for another tripled as part of a 12-0 run to start the fourth.

“You’ve got to give John Marshall credit, they made some shots,” Stead said. “They played well.”

Baker finished with 12 points to give Weir High three in double figures.

The Red Riders forced John Marshall in 29 turnovers, but committed 27 of their own and the Monarchs were simply more effective in turning them into points.

“I know they want to play aggressively, but we have to learn to play aggressive while under control,” Stead said. “A lot of times we kind of get ahead of ourselves, we don’t turn and look, we don’t catch the ball … we have to do a better job of coming to the basketball.

“We have to do a better job of shooting, we have to do a better job of boxing out, fundamental things. We just have to keep working hard, keep improving and get back in the gym and fix some of these things.”

JAYVEE ACTION

The Monarchs also won the preliminary contest, 49-28.

UP NEXT

John Marshall: Is off until after Christmas break, from which it returns against Linsly on Tuesday.

Weir High: Has to wait a little longer for its break as it Is back in action today with a trip to Fairmont Senior.

John Marshall 69, Weir High 42

John Marshall 19-17-19-14 – 69

Weir High 2-15-20-5 – 42

JOHN MARSHALL (4-4): Derrow 6 2-2 17; Hunnell 4 0-0 10; Helms 5 0-0 12; Babiczuk 2 0-0 4; K. Blake 11 2-2 24; A. Blake 1 0-0 2; Updergraf 0 0-0 0; Groves 0 0-0 0; Tekely 0 0-0 0; Ebert 0 0-0 0. TOTALS. 29, 4-4; 69.

WEIR HIGH (1-7): Kaufman 0 2-4 2; Turner 4 0-0 10; Re. Hoover 0 0-0 0; Baker 4 4-5 12; Aperfine 5 3-4 14; Ra. Hoover 2 0-0 4; Faulks 0 0-0 0; Bine 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15, 9-13; 42.

3-POINT GOALS: John Marshall 7 (Derrow 3, Hunnell 2, Helms 2); Weir High 3 (Turner 2, Aperfine). ASSISTS: John Marshall 22 (Helms 9); Weir High 14 (Kaufman 5, Turner 5). REBOUNDS: John Marshall 27 (K. Blake 10); Weir High 11 (Ra. Hoover 4). TURNOVERS: John Marshall 29; Weir High 27.