Parkersburg South’s Carley Schaffer (20) brings the ball up the court as Frontier’s Morgan Haught defends during Friday’s BACF All-Star game. (Photo by Aaron Lee)

PARKERSBURG — As if owning the career scoring record at Parkersburg High School wasn’t enough. Senior Trinity Balog tacked on to her personal highlight reel by pouring in a game-high 36 points while leading Team West Virginia past Team Ohio, 114-97, in the 21st edition of the Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star Classic Friday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center.

“Obviously, playing this game was fun and good playing for the cause,” said Balog, who was named Most Valuable Player for Team West Virginia. “Ohio girls in that first quarter were just chucking threes and making them. We put a little more emphasis on defense and still have fun.”

The win put Team West Virginia one up in the series at 11 wins to 10 and left Ravenswood coach Cara Williams.1-0 in her debut on the sidelines for the BACF. She only had eight players at her disposal, but received contributions throughout the lineup.

Especially from one of her own as Red Devilette Emily Wratchford just missed a double-double with a game-high 14 rebounds to go with seven points.

“That’s what Emily has done for us her whole career,” Ravenswood coach Cara Williams said as part of her debut as head of Team West Virginia. “She stuffs the stat sheet. She may not have 30 points, but she will have a little bit of everything. As our starting point guard at Ravenswood, she was our second leading rebounder. That’s pretty impressive.”

Frontier’s Grace Knowlton (4) receives a pass during Friday’s BACF All-Star game. (Photo by Aaron Lee)

A total of six West Virginia players scored in double figures, including Sophie Nichols (Ripley) with 17 points, Gracie Shamblin (Parkersburg South) with 16, Jensen Varner (Parkersburg) with 14 points, and Mary Tokodi-Ruth (Parkersburg Catholic) and Carley Schaffer (Parkersburg South) each contributing 12 points.

“It’s easy when you have really good players,” Williams said of her debut coaching the BACF. “Really, it’s a little easier to get eight in than to get 11 or 12 in. It’s a little bit of a benefit that way that you don’t have to try to keep more people happy and get them enough playing time. Probably worked out for the best.

“There were two different styles of play. We have really good shooters on West Virginia, but we also have girls who are going to get to the rim, drive and put the pressure on the defense. I felt like that was a little bit of an advantage for us.”

West Virginia weathered an early barrage of 3-pointers from Ohio. In the first quarter, Ohio Most Valuable Player Bree Allen accounted for four of her eight 3-pointers as her ballclub went 8-of-15 from beyond the arc in a 37-point first quarter.

Allen, who was named to the All-Ohio first team in Division II and will play at Tiffin University next season, scored 22 of her 29 points in the first half. Classmate Kylee Bruce, who will play at Malone University, accounted for seven points in the first quarter and finished with 18 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds.

Parkersburg’s Trinity Balog (3) handles the ball during Friday’s BACF All-Star game. (Photo by Aaron Lee)

“The first half, I was doing pretty good – the second half, I couldn’t make a thing,” Allen said. I’m still going to shoot it if I get the ball. I made one, and I looked up at my dad and said “I got that one.'”

The two girls treat each other like sisters and don’t look forward to possibly guarding one another when their two teams meet as part of the G-MAC schedule.

“”We are telling each other we are not guarding each other – when we guard each other at the gym, we know exactly what each other is going to do,” Bruce said. “We can’t fake each other out ever.”

Ohio led 51-41 with less than six minutes remaining in the first half then went into a major dryspell as West Virginia closed out the first half on a 21-3 run.

“We were standing out there and they have their whole roster and – this is going to be a rough night,” Balog laughed. “A lot of us are going to be playing college basketball and college basketball is four 10-minute quarters. If we can play in this, we will be fine for college. That’s how we looked at it.”

West Virginia began to create some breathing room late in the third quarter when Sophie Nichols assisted on a bucket by Varner then scored one of her own to ignite a 7-0 surge which extended the lead to 88-75.

Ohio showed signs of climbing back into the picture when River’s Kelsey Harlan buried one of 19 Ohio 3-pointers as part of a 7-0 run which cut the deficit to 95-84 in the early stages of the fourth quarter.

Ohio, however, had no answer for Balog. Balog’s nifty pass to Varner followed by one of her three 3-pointers stonewalled any hopes of an Ohio comeback with West Virginia in front 100-84. Balog scored 23 points in the second half.

With the win in hand, several girls from both sides took their best shot in the final minute trying to land a half-court shot. Tokodi-Ruth got an ovation from the crowd when she banked one in to complete the scoring with 21 seconds on the clock.

Allen and Bruce both played in two previous all-star games this year, one for conference and another for districts. Neither had the kind of ending with the half-court heaves.

“I had so much fun – it was a great game to be a part of,” Bruce said.

Ohio’s offense could never regain the form after shooting 13-of-23 (56.5%) from the floor in the first quarter. Ohio finished the game at 37.4% (34-of-91).

West Virginia, on the other hand, maintained an impressive percentage from the floor and ended the night 44-of-81 (54.3%). Respective coaches for the BACF All-Star Classichad one night of practice leading up to the game, but the West Virginia girls displayed a continuity of multiple practices together.

“Wow!” was Warren coach Brad Venham’s reaction to having all that talent on team Ohio. “That first quarter, I think we spent it all. Felt like the first quarter anything we threw up was going to go in.

“After that, I think we got a little bit tired. We let Trinity take over and the rest was history. Those half-courters, we discussed that other other night in practice and that’s how we decided who was starting.”

Rounding out the top scorers for Ohio were Harlan and Frontier’s Grace Knowlton with 15 points apiece. Distributing the Most Valuable Player Awards to the respective teams was Venham’s cousin, Casey Jo Higgins, who is battling cystic fibrosis. She sat on the bench along with Team Ohio.

“As long as the girls had fun – this was for a good cause and obviously with my cousin on the bench it means a lot to her, to us as a family and the community and for BACF,” Venham said. “She was nervous handing out the awards. If we had told her before the game she probably would have left before halftime. Kind of snuck that one in on her. It was nice to hand those awards at the end.”

In the individual contests for the girls side, Shamblin placed first for free-throw shooting. In the 3-point contest, Nichols knocked down her first 10 attempts and claimed first place.

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com