Dec 21, 2024
Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Giana Chirpas shoots for two Friday inside the ECO Center west of St. Clairsville.
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — One team survived a Tornado, another didn’t during the first night of the 12th annual Buckeye 8 Challenge inside the refurbished ECO Center.
Martins Ferry (4-4) halted a four-game losing streak with a 51-42 decision over West Muskingum 4-4) in the opener, while the Barnesville boys weren’t as fortunate in the nightcap, falling to the Tornadoes 74-28.
The event continues today with Indian Creek and Wheeling Central squaring off in a girls’ game at noon. St. Clairsville faces Marion Pleasant at 1:45 p.m., with Coshocton and Martins Ferry boys’ concluding the event at 3:30.
Lindse Sidon buried a three-pointer late in the first quarter that put the Purple Riders (4-4) ahead for good at 13-11.
The triple ignited a 16-0 run that carried over into the second quarter as the designated hosts took a 26-11 advantage and were never seriously threatened.
“Everybody thinks we are in shambles, but we are fine,” Martins Ferry head coach Dave Reasbeck said. “The schedule we put together is for one goal and that is to get us to the regionals. This is the team that we’ll have to beat to get there. That is our single goal for this year.
“We had some hard practices and we got after it,” he continued. “We don’t make it real easy on ourselves. We missed some layups and did some dumb things, but our goal was to win tonight and we did. I’m really happy.”
Game MVP Giana Chirpas led all scorers with 19 points and all rebounders with eight. Lindsey Best added 17 markers, including her 1,000th career point in the first quarter.
“This is a big relief, especially since I missed 20-some games due to injury,” she said of reaching the milestone. “It feels good to do it in a win that we really needed to get our emotion back up because we were down, so this was a big win for us.”
Sidon finished with 11 points, including a trio of treys. Maddie Lucas grabbed seven rebounds as the Purple Riders held a 36-25 margin off the glass. Alivia Reese had four points and five boards in a reserve role as only four players scored for the Purple.
West Muskingum went scoreless for the first five minutes of the second quarter and trailed by as many as 17, 31-14, when Sidon connected on a three-pointer from the right wing with 51 seconds left in the first half.
“If we can hold teams under 50 points a game, we’re going to win,” Reasbeck added. “If we give up 70 like we have a couple of times, then we aren’t.”
Martins Ferry got the lead back to 16, 49-33, in the fourth quarter on a basket by Chirpas.
Teriauna Brandford came off the bench to lead the Tornadoes with 10 points. Lyla Johnson and Addy Antonetz evenly split 18.
The Purple Riders connected on 19 of 43 shots from the floor to 16-for-40 for the Tornadoes. The victors also charted two more turnovers at 20-18.
BOYS
Barnesville (2-5) led 5-4 early on but West Muskingum (3-4) went on a 16-3 run to end the first quarter on top, 20-8. The Tornadoes outscored the Shamrocks 41-18 over the next two quarters to pull away for good.
“We couldn’t weather their runs. We knew they were going to be physical and athletic,” Barnesville head coach Shane Stephens said. “I thought we prepared for them. We’re just trying to find our identity right now.”
The Tornadoes’ height also was a factor.
“We’re not big. I think our tallest guy is around 6-foot, but that’s no excuse,” Stephens added. “We need to figure out what we can do to put ourselves in the right positions to win ball games. We’ll get back in the gym and figure it out.”
Braedon Willis led Barnesville with 10 points. Casey Carpenter had seven and also collected eight rebounds.
Game MVP Tavin Bennett finished with 16 points and nine boards – both team-highs. Kyle Porter had 14 points, Jake Anton 13 and Carter Smith 11 off the bench.
The Tornadoes held a 39-22 advantage off the glass and only turned the ball over seven times, which was 10 fewer than Barnesville.
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