Indian Creek’s Ally Tweedy looks to shoot past Madonna’s Jazzy Melnyk. (Joe Catullo)

WINTERSVILLE — If the Indian Creek girls basketball team was not in a league of its own before hosting the seventh-ranked West Virginia Class A squad on Thursday, it is now.

With the pressure of staying unbeaten and hosting senior night looming, the Redskins put forth one of their best overall performances so far this season and defeated Madonna, 62-28.

Indian Creek improves to 15-0 for the first time since 2009, but head coach Steve Eft is making sure his team only looks at what’s in front of it.

“We just take it one game at a time,” he said. “Every day we come in, we’re focused on the next opponent. We talk about it (the perfect record) a little bit, but our main focus is whoever we play next. After tonight, we’re going to come in (today) and prepare for Bellaire.”

The Redskins essentially put Thursday’s game away in the first half, leading 38-16 at the break. After a close 4-4 score early in the first quarter, they ended the frame on a 16-2 scoring run.

“We knew coming in there were a lot reasons why this team was 14-0,” Madonna coach Rodney Boniti said. “There’s a reason why they’re beating everybody by 35 or 45 points, including the (OVAC) 5A programs. They’re well-coached, they’re disciplined, they’re very aggressive and, when you have nine or 10 impressive girls like that, you have something special.”

Because it was senior night, Eft started all five of his (Mackenzie Orban, Taylor Scott, Kacie Vandeborne, Haylie Scott and Tera Parrish.) When the regular starters like Kylie Kiger and Taylor Jones entered the contest, that’s when the Redskins’ began their dominance.

“They’re a really good team,” Eft said about Madonna (10-3). “We were able to scout them once. We knew we would have to show up ready to play tonight. Our girls really responded. We’ve been working a lot against the zone and moving the ball. I thought our ball movement was really good in the first half. It also always helps when you’re knocking down shots.”

Jones, who’s been a hit or miss at times this season, stepped up big in the first half, scoring 10 of her 12 points. She also collected a game-high seven rebounds overall.

“Taylor did a really, really good job in the first half. We’ve been waiting for that,” Eft said. “She’s been struggling a little bit from the field, so it was really nice to see her break out of that. She sometimes struggles to get the ball underneath the hoop, but she’s a battler. She’s getting healthier every day.”

Kiger tallied a game-high 13 points, four rebounds and two assists. Makenzie Taylor had 12 points and three boards. Orban and Hailey Clark contributed four assists each. As has been the norm, 10 of the 11 Redskins who played scored at least one point.

Despite the offensive success, it was Indian Creek’s defense that garnered the attention. It forced 23 turnovers, allowed 10 made field goals and held Andrea Alimario to four points and four rebounds.

“The coaching staff did a great job and knew what we were trying to do,” Boniti said. “Anytime you get that much ball pressure, you’re not going to clean looks with your post players. You’re not going to get clean look on your flashes.”

Jazzy Melnyk led the Blue Dons with 10 points and five rebounds. Gabby Staffileno contributed six points and two boards.

Before traveling to Catholic Central on Monday, the Blue Dons travel to Clarksburg Notre Dame on Saturday in a makeup contest, weather permitting.

“We told the girls to keep their heads up high,” Boniti said. “There are reasons why teams in the valley don’t want to play this team (Indian Creek) right now. We’re okay with it. We knew we had an unbelievable schedule. We knew this was the No. 1 team on our schedule.

“We still have four winning West Virginia teams left on our schedule. It doesn’t get much easier but, if you learn how to play in this atmosphere with this crowd with that much talent, of course we’re going to learn from it. We had to learn how to lose first. Now, we’re going to learn how to get better starting (today).”

For the Redskins, they are off until the Buckeye 8 championships on Jan. 26.

They will face Bellaire in Martins Ferry. Waiting that long with the momentum they have is good and bad.

“We do have some momentum right now, but it’s good to get some rest at the same time,” Eft said. “We have really competitive practices, so we’ll be getting after it in practice. We’re going to need that week to prepare for Bellaire because they’re a really good team.”

GAME NOTES

¯ All five seniors played at the same time again with a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. With 30 seconds left, Eft called a timeout so they could leave to a standing ovation.

“I wanted to give them that ovation because they deserved it,” he said. “We have a great group of seniors who put the time in and work extremely hard to get to this point. They all started tonight, and I feel like they all could start on any given night.”

¯ Madonna won the two-quarter jayvee game, 15-11. Anna Backel led the Blue Dons with eight points.

Indian Creek’s Gracie Francis and Emily Buchanan evenly divided six.

(Catullo can be reached at jcatullo@heraldstaronline.com)

Indian Creek 62, Madonna 28

Madonna 6-10-6-6 — 28

Indian Creek 20-18-11-13 — 62

MADONNA (10-3): Boniti 1 0-1 2; Staffileno 2 2-5 6; Melnyk 3 3-4 10; Alimario 1 2-2 4; Martin 2 0-0 4; Riccadonna 1 0-0 2; Backel 0 0-0 0; Martinez 0 0-0 0; Battista 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10, 7-12: 28.

INDIAN CREEK (15-0): Orban 1 0-0 2; T. Scott 3 0-0 6; Vandeborne 3 2-4 9; H. Scott 1 0-0 2; Parrish 0 3-4 3; Kiger 5 2-2 13; Tweedy 0 1-2 1; Taylor 5 2-2 12; Jones 4 4-6 12; Clark 0 0-0 0; Copeland 0 2-3 2. TOTALS: 22, 16-23: 62.

3-POINT GOALS: Madonna 1 (Melnyk); Indian Creek 2 (Vandeborne, Kiger). REBOUNDS: Madonna 17 (Melnyk 5, Martin 5); Indian Creek 30 (Jones 7). ASSISTS: Madonna 3; Indian Creek 13 (Orban 4, Clark 4). TURNOVERS: Madonna 23; Indian Creek 15.