Parkersburg Catholic's Peyton Murdoch tries to knock the ball away from Wood County Christian's Lydia Bazell during the Crusaderettes' 54-32 Class A, Region I victory Thursday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Meg Roedersheimer’s 19-foot corner jumper ignited a 16-0 spurt to open Thursday night’s Class A, Region I affair for second-seeded Parkersburg Catholic as the Crusaderettes’ pressure defense was too much for No. 7 Wood County Christian during a 54-32 triumph.

The 14-8 Crusaderettes of head coach Bob Carr, who only shot 30% (21 of 70) but had a 29-9 edge in turnovers, now need a win against No. 3 Ritchie County come 7 p.m. Wednesday to advance to the state tournament.

PCHS, which got a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double from Bryley Starkey, 13 points from Ellie Kinnison and a game-high six assists from Macy Singer, watched Annie Tokodi-Ruth tally 14 points to go with a game-high nine steals. Kinnison flirted with a triple-double after pulling down eight boards and collecting seven swipes.

Wood County Christian’s Brooke Arnold led the visitors with game-highs of 17 points, 20 rebounds and three blocked shots for first-year head coach Nathan Boron, whose squad fell 66-39 to PCHS on Feb. 16.

“That was a good test tonight,” said coach Carr. “They are a good team and he does a really good job with them. Obviously, the Arnold girl, I mean she’s a load. It was a good test for us.

Wood County Christian's Brooke Arnold, who had game-highs of 17 points, 20 rebounds and three blocks, wins the jump ball against Parkersburg Catholic's Annie Tokodi-Ruth during Thursday night's Class A, Region I game. The second-seeded Crusaderettes defeated the seventh-seeded Wildcats, 54-32. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I think our girls withstood a couple of runs there and that’s all we’re asking is to give it their best effort and let the chips fall where they may. Of course, a win in the region is a win in the region.”

Roedersheimer had four of her six counters in the opening run. Kinnison followed the first hoop with a 12-foot jumper and after Tokodi-Ruth hit from downtown, coach Boron called timeout 1:27 in trailing 7-0.

The lead extended out to 16-0 with the help of Kinnison’s first 3 and four points from Starkey, which included an easy lay-in following a pass from the wing to the block by Caroline Wynn.

Arnold finally got the Wildcats on the board with 24.4 left in the quarter when she made a pair of foul shots. The freshman pivot finished 9 of 11 from the free-throw line.

“Eliza (Amos) is our only senior,” said coach Boron, who watched her go for six points, eight rebounds, two assists and a pair of blocks. “Everybody else will be back next year. We are definitely a super young group this year. I’m proud of the girls. They worked really, really hard. We started in June and they really put a bunch of work in this year. Probably one of the better seasons they’ve had at Wood County in several seasons.

Parkersburg Catholic's Macy Singer drives during the Crusaderettes' 54-32 Class A, Region I victory Thursday night versus Wood County Christian. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I told them to be proud of that. That’s something to be proud of. I’m excited to see this group back. We had two returners. Maren (Misel) and Ellie Piatt played last year. Maren had a torn ACL last year. This was her first year playing high school. We go into game number one and we only had one kid on the floor who had played a high school game before.”

Although Amos opened the second with a 3, Singer answered back 12 seconds later with a trey of her own off the glass.

Wood County Christian, which finished 11-12, trailed 19-7 after Arnold scored inside, but Tokodi-Ruth responded with a three-point play and then kissed in a 3. Kinnison’s deuce capped the 8-0 spurt.

Hannah Parsley’s layup made it 29-7, but Wynn pushed the lead to 20 for the first time at 30-10 when she connected from beyond the arc.

The visitors trailed 32-10 at the break after Arnold blocked Singer, but Starkey grabbed the offensive rebound and got the putback to fall through the net off the box just before the buzzer.

Parkersburg Catholic's Annie Tokodi-Ruth had two treys and finished with a team-high 14 points as well as a game-high nine steals during the Crusaderettes' 54-32 Class A, Region I victory Thursday night versus Wood County Christian. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

After suffering 17 turnovers in the first half, the Wildcats couldn’t make up any ground in the third quarter and trailed 48-17 going to the fourth.

“It was big for the girls,” coach Boron said of winning their first regional game versus Notre Dame, 50-21, where Arnold (17), Parsley (11) and Piatt (10) had double figures in scoring. “It was a good experience for them to get into these big games.

“You know, a big crowd. That’s something exciting for them. We struggled with the pressure.

Notre Dame tried to pressure us a little bit. We were able to kind of get past that, but Catholic’s got a little bit better defensive pressure.”

PCHS will attempt to beat the Rebels of head man Dave McCullough for the second time this year. On Dec. 30, the Crusaderettes won 69-61 in Ellenboro.

“I did appreciate their effort,” coach Carr added of Wednesday’s performance. “We had a pretty hard practice yesterday and I was worried about their legs a little bit. My biggest fear is obviously you don’t want to assume. You don’t want to take anybody lightly and Boron does a good job with those girls. Our girls played hard tonight. I got to give them an A for effort.

“We’ll just have to be ready. Davey will be ready with Ritchie County on Wednesday and we’ll see where we are at. It was a tough game. They were up most of the game. We pulled it out in the fourth quarter. I think we’re a different team and it was kind of earlier in the season. We just have to hope our kids come in every day, work over the next three or four days and be ready to go.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com