T-L Photo/Kim North
Martins Ferry’s Maddie Lucas (12) and Sidne Sidon trap St. Clairsville’s Kesslee Barerra (4) during Thursday night’s girls’ basketball game on John Jenkins Court inside St. Clairsville High School. The Purple Riders won, 55-25.
Martins Ferry girls bounce
Back with a win over St. C.
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE — After falling flat on its face in a season-opening setback at Marietta on Tuesday night, Martins Ferry took its frustrations out on St. Clairsville on Thursday night.
The Purple Riders (1-1) started strong and never relented in a 55-25 pounding of the mistake-prone Red Red Devils on John Jenkins Court inside St. Clairsville High School.
“We’re not real happy. We’re not a real happy basketball team right now,” Martins Ferry head coach Dave Reasbeck said. “It wasn’t a happy gym at practice yesterday (Wednesday) and it’s not a happy lockerroom right now, all because of Tuesday night.
“We went in there with a sissy game plan and a sissy travel ball culture of if we lose it’s okay,” he explained. “We felt flat and made a bad name for ourselves. With the high expectations that we have this year, that wasn’t going to get it, so now we’re turning it all loose. We’re not playing half-court basketball anymore. We’re not afraid of anyone any more and we’re just going to play.
“Tonight was a good start. We still missed a ton of easy shots, but the girls are very athletic and they play super hard. We took advantage of that,” he continued.
Martins Ferry’s trapping defense was too much for the hosts as they turned the ball over at an alarming rate, including 11 in the first quarter and 30 for the game.
“We weren’t ready for that foot speed,” St. Clairsville head coach Stacey Agnew said. “It wasn’t just one or two of their girls, it was all of them.
“They were simply the better team tonight,” he added. “I told the girls all we can do is keep working hard and see what happens.”
After the Red Devils’ Alexa Druzin scored the game’s first basket, Martins Ferry netted 22 of the next 27 to grab a 22-7 advantage and were never threatened.
Junior Lindsey Best, an Ohio Division III third team all-stater last winter, tallied 11 of her game-high 20 in the initial eight minutes. Classmate Lindse Sidon drained a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter as the margin increased to 40-11.
In addition to Best’s performance, senior Danielle Lude chipped in 10 points and Sidon finished with eight. Of the 10 Purple Riders who played in the first half, nine of them scored.
“That’s what we’re going to do,” Reasbeck said of the frequent substitutions. “We’ve got 11 athletes, 10 now because one got hurt tonight, but we’re going to use them. That’s how we’re going to play from now on and see how far it takes us.”
Kesslee Barrera was a bright spot for St. Clairsville as she scored nine points and yanked down a game-best 10 rebounds. Kiya Kyer had six points off the bench.
Martins Ferry turned the ball over 16 times, but most of them came in mop-up time. It also led 35-16 off the glass as freshman Gianna Chirpas pulled down eight and classmate Maddie Lucas grabbed seven. Lucas also charted half-a-dozen steals.
The Purple Riders travel to Oak Glen Saturday morning. The Red Devils take the court again on Monday at Bellaire.