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RIVER CITY CLASSIC: Area teams represent well at Marietta College

11 min read

After suffering their first loss of the season in the Federated Auto Parts River City Classic on Wednesday to a very good Fairland team, the Marietta Tigers responded in a big way as they downed Belpre 64-26 in the girls finale.

Before the game second-year Tiger head coach Ryan McClain had a little talk with junior guard Alyssa Baker explaining to her how much confidence he had in her ability to shoot the basketball.

That little pep talk had huge results as Baker knocked down five triples in the game and led all scorers with 21 points.

"The past few games Alyssa really hasn't looked to get her shot and I told her I want her shooting every time she has an open look," said McClain of Baker. "I have full confidence in all of our girls and especially her."

Marietta built a 17-8 lead after one quarter of play and then blew things wide open with a 16-0 run to begin the second quarter.

Baker got the run started by stealing the ball near mid-court and cashing in at the other end and then Leigha Lauer took over and scored eight consecutive points.

After Lauer's steal and left handed lay-up in transition pushed the lead to 19, Baker and senior Julia Tucker rang the ball from long distance to give the Marietta girls a 33-10 lead.

Belpre got four consecutive points from freshman Gracie Bills but Baker knocked down yet another triple to send her team to the intermission in complete control with a 36-12 lead.

The Tigers continued to add to their lead in the third quarter and Saylor Wharff's three-pointer in the closing minute of the period pushed the lead over 30 and set the running clock in motion.

In addition to her 21 points, Baker also grabbed three rebounds and registered three steals.

Lauer had secured a double-double by intermission and finished the night with 14 points and a game-high 11 boards.

The win improved the Tigers season record at the halfway point to 10-1 and washed away the bitter taste in their mouths after suffering the tough loss the day before.

"They responded how you want them to respond after a bad loss like we had yesterday," said McClain, whose team will next host Steubenville on January 6th. "We didn't play like ourselves and it's good to see that we bounced back and were resilient today."

The loss was just the second of the season compared to seven wins for Belpre who was led in scoring by Haley Alloway with 12 points and Bills with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Frontier 56, St. Marys 49

Grace Knowlton and Morgan Haught were a dynamic duo in Frontier's 56-49 win over St. Marys during the River City High School Classic Thursday at Ban Johnson Arena.

Haught scored 10 of her 15 points in the opening quarter to help the Cougars build a lead, while Knowlton tallied all of her game-high 29 points over the final three quarters to close it out.

Frontier led 15-9 after one and 32-27 at halftime.

St. Marys, which was led by Addie Davis' 22 points, got down 10 in the third before scoring the final five points of the period to get back within five, 44-39, going into the fourth.

Frontier used an 8-0 run midway through the final stanza to build a 13-point cushion. The Cougars held on from there to earn the victory.

Though Knowlton and Haught did the bulk of the scoring for Frontier, there were plenty of contributors for the Mike Cisler-coached Cougars. Anna Bowersock grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while Kelsey Dye pulled down eight. Keeley Barrows, who notched a pair of steals, hit a key 3-pointer while Ella Mendenhall knocked down a pivotal jumper off the bench. Alexa Allen and Emily Cisler also gave FHS big minutes off the pine.

The Fred King-coached Blue Devils saw Breanna Price reach double figures with 10 points to go along with five boards, three assists and three steals. Callie Powell had four steals while Davis and Kiera Martin each had three. Brynnley Bulluck tallied seven points while Anna Bennett finished with four rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Shooting woes plagued the Blue Devils, as they finished 14 for 52 (26.9%) from the floor and 17 for 28 (60.7%) from the free-throw line.

Knowlton and Davis were named the players of the game.

Fort Frye 54, Wahama 13

Despite a slow start offensively, the Fort Frye Cadets put on a defensive clinic at the River City Hoops Classic when they routed the Wahama White Falcons by a final score of 54-13.

A make by Alyssa Duskey of the Cadets opened the game up. It was quickly followed by a three-pointer by Wahama's Kate Reynolds. The White Falcons started the game with four turnovers in four minutes, something that would continue to be a problem throughout the game. Fort Frye was up 12-6 after the first quarter.

Alyssa Duskey once again kicked off the scoring in the second, this time with a jumper. Later, Emmie Duskey drove to the basket, made the shot and forced a foul. A high-arcing layup by Ava Huffman put the Cadets up 16-8. Emmie Dusket ended the half with a triple. Wahama had 10 turnovers in the first half. Going into halftime, Fort Frye was up 25-8.

A trifecta by Reynolds got things started in the third. Huffman responded with a 3 of her own. Then, it became a three-point onslaught for the Cadets. Alyssa Duskey hit one, followed by Emmie Dusket, Huffman again, Lacy Ludwig and Kianna O'Brien. Thanks to all the 3's, Fort Frye ended the third up 49-13.

Khoen Courson added a trifecta in the fourth. The Cadets would go on to win 54-13.

Wahama's VanMatre and Cadet Emmie Duskey were honored as players of the game. Emmie Duskey finished the game with 16 points, one rebound and two steals.

Fort Frye head coach Dan Liedtke gave his thoughts after the game, "I thought it was good we were able to get all the players in. Everyone that did go in did a nice job of executing, and defense, you know, had a lot to do with it, and I felt pretty good about it."

Parkersburg 65, Liberty Union 27

Playing games on back-to-back days is certainly not ideal, but it is a challenge that a team can rise to meet. The Big Reds did just that on Thursday. After beating River on Wednesday by a final of 67-55, Parkersburg defeated Liberty Union 65-27.

A steal by Lauren Flanagan followed by a pass to Trinity Balog led to a basket early in the first. Balog made the ensuing free throw for the and-1. The Big Reds offense started off sluggish in terms of turnovers, but the defense remained sturdy. Parkersburg only allowed one basket by Liberty Union in the first quarter. The score was 16-2 going into the second.

Jensen Verner of the Big Reds managed a putback go up 20-7. Parkersburg's Sophie Lott then made the first 3 of the game by either team. Liberty Union's Kate Osterman hit a triple to end the quarter down 29-14. The Big Reds were 10/11 on free throws in the first half.

Kennedy Porter contributed a putback at the start of the third. Payton Hochradel of Liberty Union then made a three-pointer. Later in the third, Balog faked a shot and passed the ball to Flanagan, who drained a 3. A trifecta by the Lions' Ella Brown was quickly answered by three-point shots coming from both Balog and Lott.

The Big Reds went on to win in dominant fashion, 65-27. Morgan Love of Liberty Union and Parkersburg's Sophie Lott were awarded player of the game honors. Lott had a game-high 16 points.

Big Reds head coach Coach Chris Murray said of the team's performance, "I thought that we wanted to get the tempo and the pressure up, and we were able to do that. I mean, we played a back-to-back last week, played a back-to-back this week, you know obviously I think that's mentally where we need to be, and that's what we wanna do, we wanna be able to be mentally tough when we play a game and we got another game the next day. I thought our pressure and our tempo, we wanted to establish that. I thought we did a good job."

Parkersburg plays host to Cabell Midland at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Meigs 72, Trimble 58

A day after falling to Belpre in the River City High School Classic, the Meigs Marauders bounced back on day two of the event with a 72-58 win over Trimble.

Meigs was led by Keaghan Wolfe's 23 points. Wolfe and Trimble's Bailey Tomlin, who tallied 18 points, were named the players of the game. Maggie Musser added 18 points for the Marauders.

BOYS

Marietta 64, St. Marys 29

Playing for the first time in nine days one may have expected a bit of rust from the undefeated Marietta Tigers Thursday night as they took on St. Marys in the finale of the River City High School Basketball Classic at Ban Johnson Arena.

Instead the Austin Gardner-coached Tigers picked up right where they left off as they got off to a great start and rolled to a 64-29 win over the St. Marys Blue Devils to improve to a perfect 7-0 on the season.

The orange and black scored the first 15 points of the game, eight of them coming before St. Marys even got off a shot and never looked back the rest of the way.

"I was pleased with how we came out and played with such energy after a long time off," said Gardner, in his second season at MHS. "We played great defense from the start and really shared the basketball well too."

Junior Seth Britton came up with a steal and bucket at the other end to open the scoring and sophomore Zaiden Wittekind followed suit to make it 4-0.

Another Tiger steal by senior big man Alex Kendall resulted in another Wittekind basket and Wittekind returned the favor on the next possession as he stole the ball and assisted Kendall on a two-handed dunk to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead before St. Marys took their first shot.

The Tigers continued their pressure and pushed their lead out to 25-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Kendall scored the first two buckets of the second quarter including another dunk off of his own steal and after a Wyatt Pickerton two-pointer briefly slowed the Tigers they responded with another 15-0 run to put things way out of reach before the intermission.

Marietta shot a blistering 64 percent from the floor (27-42) and out-rebounded the Devils by a healthy 25-13 margin.

Tiger junior Brayden Jones came off of the bench to toss in a game-high 16 points including all four of his three-point shot attempts.

Kendall finished the game with 12 points in limited minutes as did fellow senior Izak Knighten.

St. Marys, which fell to 3-4 with the loss, were led in scoring by Wyatt Pickerton's 10 points while Ryan Kent chipped in with eight.

Wahama 62, Belpre 53

In a River City Hoops Classic matchup where the Belpre Golden Eagles stayed within striking distance for the entire game, the Wahama White Falcons managed to keep them at bay thanks to hardy defense. They would go on to win the game by a final of 62-53.

Belpre's Chris Copen had a nice driving layup to take an early 6-5 lead. Later, Eli Rickard of Wahama hit a 3 to go up 15-12. Sawyer VanMatre had a strong drive to the rim on a layup at the end of the first. The White Falcons had a 5-point lead at 19-14 at the end of the quarter.

Derek Liston sank a triple early in the second quarter. Wahama's Bryce Zuspan responded with a two pointer. A basket by Junior Bass of the Golden Eagles tied things up at 21 and forced a Wahama timeout. Big man VanMatre then hit a three. Liston nailed a trifecta, and Alex Hardwick of the White Falcons followed suit. Wahama was up 34-28 at halftime.

Liston hit another 3 to start the third quarter. Hardwick managed a pretty turnaround jumper. Belpre took a timeout down 41-35 in the third quarter. Later, Belpre's Blake Church hit a three point shot. VanMatre ended the quarter with multiple layups. Going into the final quarter, the White Falcons were up 47-40.

Bass contributed a strong block early in the fourth. Then, Hardwick nailed another triple. With 4:30 remaining in the final quarter, the Golden Eagles took a timeout down 53-48. Zuspan and Rickard made layups in the final minutes. Wahama won the game by a final of 62-53.

VanMatre and Liston were the players of the game for their respective sides. VanMatre finished with 26 and Liston had 20, making them the highest scorers for each team.

The White Falcons advance to 8-1. Belpre falls to 6-4. The Golden Eagles play next on January 5th at home against Trimble at 7:15 p.m.

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