Day 1 of the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Basketball Tournament is in the books with the Boys and Girls Semifinals being played.
On the girls side of the bracket, Weirton Madonna faced off against Steubenville Catholic Central and Wheeling Central Catholic played Bishop Donahue. While Steubenville Catholic faced Clay-Battelle and Donahue faced Wheeling Central on the boys side.
Girls Semifinals
Weirton Madonna 42, Steubenville Central 21.
Madonna raced out to an early lead and rode a double digit lead into the half. Steubenville started a bit of a comeback at the start of the fourth, but Madonna closed the door with free throws at the end.
Wheeling Central 56, Bishop Donahue 43
Central raced out to an eight point lead in the first before Donahue could catch pace. They finished out the quarter holding a 19 – 10 lead while having seven Lady Maroon Knights in the scorebook. They would extend their lead to 14 at the half thanks to more balanced scoring and a defensive effort that only allowed 13 Donahue shots (6 – 13) in the first half.
Central put the game away for good in the third when they held Donahue to two converted buckets and two made free throws while scoring fifteen in the quarter. Bishop would not quit, though as they outscored Central 15 – 6 in the final frame, but the damage had been done and the Lady Maroon Knights converted at the foul line when needed to put the game away for good.
Sydney Bennington paced the Lady Maroon Knights with 9 points while Cate Calisse and Ashton Cross both scored 8. Jewel Pupura led all scorers with 19 points for the Bishops, including 5 – 8 from 3pt range. Ekaterina Polinski added 13 for the Green and Gold.
Boys Semifinals
Steubenville Central 54, Clay-Battelle 40
This was a defensive battle for three quarters until desperation and timely foul shooting pushed the score up. The two teams combined 14 – 39 shooting in the first half to go into the locker room tied at 17. Those low shot totals continued into the third quarter, but Steubenville Central was able to capitalize on those shots to build an 11-point lead after three. Clay-Battelle had one made field goal in the third, a Jarrett Roush jumper . The fourth quarter was a complete opposite of the first three as Catholic would outscore the Cee-Bees 22 – 19. 11 of the 22 for Catholic Central came by way of the charity stripe.
Ryan Fletcher led all scorers with 18 points (7 – 11 FT) for the Crusaders while Michael Manfresca scored 10 (6 – 7 FT). Zach Chisler paced the Cee-Bees with 16 while Jarrett Hockenberry and Tristan Haught scored 9.
Wheeling Central 63, Bishop Donahue 58
The game of the night held two state-ranked teams against each other in a sectional matchup between two fierce rivals. Central jumped out to an early lead thanks to their big man, Alonzo Manns and his 5 early points, but Donahue was able to bounce back and cut the lead to 12 – 9 at the end of the first quarter. Donahue’s big guy, Chase Truex’s 6 second quarter points would help the Bishops keep pace and head into the locker room trailing by only two at 22 – 20. It was a good sight for Tom Wise’s club as one of his sharpshooters sat on the bench with two fouls for most of the second period.
The Bishops looked like they had the game in control in the third when they started the half off on a 12 – 4 run to take a 32 – 26 lead into a Central time out. That time out by Mel Stephens proved to be beneficial as the Maroon Knights took a 15 – 2 run into the third period buzzer to regain the lead at 41 – 34.
Donahue would cut the lead to two possessions a couple of times late in the fourth, including an unexpected three by Truex, but Central was able to convert at the charity stripe to put the game away for a five point victory.
David Park led all scorers with 23 points (19 in the second half, 5 – 6 FT in 4th qtr) while Chase Harler scored 16. Chase Truex led the Bishops with 20 points (third time reaching 20 in as many games this season) while Bryce Jones scored 13.
These games set up tomorrow’s consolation and winners bracket championships.
4:00pm – Girls Consolation Final: Steubenville Catholic Central vs. Bishop Donahue
5:30pm – Boys Consolation Final: Clay-Battelle vs. Bishop Donahue
7:00pm – Girls Championship: Weirton Madonna vs. Wheeling Central Catholic
8:30pm – Boys Championship: Steubenville Catholic Central vs. Wheeling Central Catholic
