SETTING UP — Madonna’s Jazzy Melnyk looks to set up a play with Hundred’s Kayla Mathews guarding her on Thursday. -Joe Catullo

WEIRTON — The Madonna defense sparkled, junior Jazzy Melnyk scored a career-high 38 points and the Blue Dons defeated Hundred, 70-24, Thursday evening inside the Bill Barrett Gymnasium in a Wheeling Hospital OVAC Class 1A consolation game.

The Hornets, who were the four seed and lost Monday to Beallsville, hung with the third-seeded Blue Dons, losers to Cameron Monday, through the first quarter. The score was 18-11 after the first eight minutes, but the Hornets suddenly went cold and failed to score in the second period. Madonna all but put the game away at halftime with a comfortable 34-11 lead.

There wasn’t much that Melnyk didn’t do. She finished with another double-double, poured in 24 points in the first half to equal Hundred’s total team point production and was very active in all phases of he game, grabbing 13 rebounds, made five steals and had four assists.

“I haven’t seen the score book yet, but I knew she (Melnyk) was up there,” Madonna coach Rodney Boniti said. “They didn’t have an answer for her. Anyone who puts up 30 points or more in a high school game is a player. I’ve been saying all summer and fall that Jazzy Melnyk, in my opinion, whether A or 5A, is one of the better players in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“She’s a special player. She has a special mindset. She has the skills and attitude and a special aptitude for the game of basketball.”

Boniti’s girls opened the game with a relentless full-court pressure defense that forced Hundred into 22 turnovers in the first half alone.

“We pulled out of the press early and went to a 1-3-1 zone defense, and I think that confused Hundred a little bit,” said Boniti, whose team now is 9-11. “We changed that defense a little this week, too, with Menlyk playing up top where she can use her long arms and her quickness to get to balls, make steals and get transition baskets.”

Coach Steve Dakar of Hundred said he knew Menlyk was the player his team had to stop, but it kept losing her.

“My starting point guard is sick and didn’t come tonight,” said Dakar, whose club finished with a total of 30 turnovers. “We’re young. We have only one senior. We’ll be back next year. I thought we played a fantastic first quarter, but we couldn’t do anything after that. I had only three first-year players on the bench, and losing our point guard really hurt us. She’s not only our ball handler on offense — she’s the best defensive player we have.

“I’m disappointed for our girls that we lost this game, but this is the first year ever that Hundred has made the OVAC final four, so we’re happy about that. We’ll have all but one girl back next year. I’m proud of these kids.”

Junior Mahala Britton led the Hundred scoring with 13 points. Kayla Davis tallied six and Rachel Redden chipped in five, including the only Hornet 3-ball.

Madonna’s post player, Alaina Moore, also checked in with a double-double. She scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds to go along with two steals and a couple of blocked shots. Anna Backel drained two 3s and ended up with eight points.

“Hundred came off of an hour-and-a-half bus trip and scored the first five points of the game,” Boniti said. “It was a little embarrassing to call a timeout less than two minutes into the game. I don’t know if we took Hundred for granted or what.”

After Boniti got his girls’ concentration back where he wanted it, they took the lead at 8-7 on a Madison Costello field goal and were never headed. From the time Melnyk closed the first quarter with a short jumper and later two free throws until Britton made a layup with 6:13 left in the third quarter, the Blue Dons went on a 22-0 run that spanned the last 1:50 of the first period, all of the second quarter and nearly two minutes into the third stanza.

UP NEXT

Hundred: Travels to Wood County on Monday.

Madonna: Off now until Feb. 15 when it closes out the regular season with a home game against Clarksburg Notre Dame. That game is scheduled to start at 2:30 pm.

Madonna 70, Hundred 24

Hundred 11-0-6-7 — 24

Madonna 18-16-19-17 — 70

HUNDRED (8-10): Redden 2 0-2 5; Duckworth 0 0-0 0; Britton 6 1-5 13; Davis 3 0-2 6; Mathews 0 0-0 0; Aricida 0 0-0 0; Yocum 0 0-0 0; Stoneking 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11, 1-9: 24. 3-POINT GOALS: 1 (Redden). REBOUNDS: 26 (Britton 10). TURNOVERS: 30.

MADONNA: Costello 1 0-0 2; Backel 3 0-0 8; Wingett 1 0-0 2; Melnyk 18 2-2 38; Alatis 2 0-0 5; Moore 5 0-4 10; Lenhart 2 0-0 5. TOTALS: 32, 2-6: 70. 3-POINT GOALS: 4 (Backel 2, Alatis, Lenhart). REBOUNDS: 46 (Melnyk 13, Moore 10). TURNOVERS: 11.