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WEIRTON -- The pattern continues.
The Madonna girls basketball team battled, but a few missed opportunities in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference, as Wheeling Central was able to hold on for a 70-61 victory Monday night.
The game was the Blue Dons' sixth straight at home to open the season.
"The final score is not reflective of the game," Madonna (1-5) head coach Cory Wingett said. "We had some missed opportunities. We played 30 really good minutes of defense. We lost it at the end. The opportunities will fall. I really hope all of the girls listened to myself, Coach (Rocky) Bragg and Coach H (Jason Heckathorn) after the game.
"We lost to a darn good Wheeling Central team. They have improved tremendously since we scrimmaged them. We hung with them all night. Our girls just need to continue to believe and trust in each other. You just can't miss out on opportunities against a team like that."
The Maroon Knights (3-3) built an eight-point advantage in the fourth, but the Blue Dons refused to go away quietly, battling their way back.
A pair of free throws by Jazzy Melnyk pulled Madonna to within 56-55. The Blue Dons then forced a turnover, and the hosts had a chance to take the lead but turned the ball right back over to the Maroon Knights. The visitors scored to go up, 58-55. The home team had a chance to tie the score with a 3 with a little more 2:30 on the clock. However, the shot did not drop, and the victors countered with a 3 on the other end of the court to build a six-point lead.
A 3-pointer by Alaina Moore was answered with a 3-pointer by Elle Canestraro, making it 64-58. Two foul shots by Marisa Horan made the score 66-58 with 1:21 remaining to be played.
Madonna then pulled to within 66-61 and was forced to foul. Horan missed a couple of foul shots, but her teammates came up with two big offensive rebounds to keep possession. The victors ended up converting to take a 68-61 lead. The Blue Dons had a chance to close the gap, but they missed a pair of foul shots, and two more points for the Maroon Knights sealed the deal.
"We were 8 of 19 from the foul line," Wingett said. "If we make a couple more of those or go 12 for 18, the end of the fourth would be different. We would have been planning our last shot, or we would have been trying to stop their last shot and not having to foul when we were down by five or six.
"I want our girls to realize how well they played. They just have to keep trusting and keep believing. We have to continue to have a good mindset. We have played a great Wheeling Central team, we have played a great Oak Glen team, we have played a great Trinity team and we have played a great Weir team.
"The girls have to understand we are playing teams much bigger than we are. We have to keep going. We are going to win games."
Both teams shot the ball well from beyond the arc. The girls from Ohio County tallied 10 3-pointers, while the girls from Hancock County drained seven.
Canestraro contributed a team-high 20 points to lead the way for the victors. Lily Vogrin and Tristen White each tallied 14 points. Like Canestraro, Vogrin made four 3s. Horan recorded 10 points.
Melnyk, the Blue Dons' senior captain, made four 3-points, en route to collecting a game-high 22 points on her way to recording another double-double. She also dished out seven assists. Moore added 16 points.
The last time Madonna defeated Wheeling Central was on Feb. 23, 2016 when Monica Bragg scored a game-high 33 points -- 29 coming after halftime -- to rally Madonna to a 56-44 victory in a West Virginia Class A Region 1 Section 1 semifinal.
Wheeling Central has followed each of its three losses this season with a win.
UP NEXT
Wheeling Central: Tentatively travels to Trinity Christian on Wednesday.
Madonna: Tentatively begins a six-game road trip Thursday at Valley.
"We play Valley Thursday, and then Friday evening we play Trinity," Wingett said. "Those are both return games. We are going on a little road trip. We are looking forward to it. We have played a lot of games at home."
Wheeling Central 70, Madonna 61
Central 22 14 16 18 -- 70
Madonna 14 17 14 16 -- 61
WHEELING CENTRAL (3-3): Horan 2 5-7 10, Vogrin 5 0-0 14, Murphy 0 0-0 0, White 6 2-5 14, Olejasz 3 0-0 7, Mills 1 0-0 2, Canestraro 8 0-1 20, Jones 0 3-4 3. TOTALS: 25, 10-17: 70.
MADONNA (1-5): Melnyk 8 2-5 22, Moore 6 3-5 16, Martinez 2 1-2 5, Backel 2 0-4 6, Alatis 2 1-1 5, Yacos 3 1-2 7, Wingett 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23, 8-19: 61.
3-POINTERS: Wheeling Central 10 (Vogrin 4, Canestraro 4, Horan, Olejasz); Madonna 7 (Melnyk 4, Backel 2, Moore).