STEUBENVILLE — X marked the spot.

Ella Maragos hit four 3-pointers from the wing in front of her team’s bench in a game-changing run enabling the eighth-seeded Catholic Central girls’ basketball team to pull away from No. 12 seed Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans en route to a 58-43 victory in an Ohio Division IV Eastern District Sectional quarterfinal Monday night inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium.

With the score tied at 32 in the third, Maragos drained four 3-pointers from the wing to lead the way as the Crusaders ripped off a 22-7 run to build a 54-39 advantage in the fourth.

“We talked about slowing down, focusing on the fundamentals and just get back to what we do,” first-year Catholic Central (10-13) head coach Rocky Bragg said about what led to his team’s game-altering spurt. “We tried to do that in the second quarter. We tried to get out in transition. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t

“When the score was 32-32, I thought the momentum was on our side. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers, and they hit some big shots because we did not close out.

“We regrouped. We talked about getting good shots. Our goal was to win the third quarter, and then focus on winning the fourth. We did that. We played good defense, and we were able to build the lead.

“We hit some big shots. Mara Delaney, who is just a freshmen, hit a couple of 3s, and that changed the momentum. Then, our 3-pointer shooter – Ella Maragos – got hot, and we didn’t take our foot off the pedal.”

The Blue-and-Gold hit seven shots from the beyond the arc in the game with six of them coming in the second half.

With the win, will play Shadyside Wednesday night at home in a sectional co-final. The Tigers are the No. 10 seed.

“We scrimmaged them, so I know a little bit about them,” Bragg said. “I’m going to try and get some film on them and then put together a game plan.”

The Crusaders will only have one day to prepare for the Tigers.

“I’m going to watch film tonight, put a game plan in tomorrow and then play them on Wednesday,” Bragg said.

The Blue-and-Gold outscored the visitors, 34-21, in the second half.

“I was able to watch three or four films of them,” Bragg said. “They like to press. They do a good job of pressuring the ball. They like to get out quick. They play a 2-3 zone. They want to force you to take a lot of outside shots, and they hope you don’t make them.

“Early on, we did not have the touch from the outside. We were rushing our shots, and our shots did not have the right arc on them.

“Then, we hit one or two from the perimeter, and we started to relax. We hit a couple of shots, and then things opened up for us.”

The girls from Muskingum County battled back to tie the score at 29, and then again at 32. The girls in white took a 36-32 lead, and Maragos drained her first 3 to give the hosts a 39-34 advantage heading into the fourth.

In the fourth, Maragos recorded 3s to give the hosts leads of 42-34, 47-34 and 50-36.

Four players produced double digits in points for the victors. Individually, Maragos recorded a team-high 16 points to lead the way offensively, while Anna Arai added 15 and Mary Rohde and Delaney each tallied 10.

The Crusaders made seven 3-pointers on 24 attempts on their way to the win.

Emily Jenkins netted a team-high 16 points to lead the way for the Red-and-Black, while Abby Sagan contributed 12.

“It feels good to get this win,” Bragg said. “There was a lot of excitement. Today felt different. This felt like a tournament game. The girls were into it, and they got the coaching staff ready to go.

“We had been on a losing streak. I felt horrible for the girls because we were playing good basketball, but we had nothing to show for it. We were getting any Ws. I felt bad for the girls because they were giving everything they’ve got.

“The girls came out tonight and had fun. We found a way to get a win. It is awesome to be able to win a tournament game.”

The game was back-and-forth early on before Bishop Rosecrans built a four-point advantage before taking a 13-10 lead into the second. At times, the Crusaders did a good job against the Bishops’ press, but they committed some unforced errors at other times.

Bishop Rosecrans scored the first two points of the second stanza to take a 15-10 lead, however, Catholic Central responded and knotted the score at 19 with 3:51 left to play in the first half. The Crusaders had a chance to take the lead at that point, but they could not convert from the free-throw line.

Catholic Central ended up taking a 22-21 lead with 2:14 remaining to be played before halftime, and they added to the lead with another basket. The Crusaders led 24-22 at halftime.

The home team led by two at the break, however, they had the opportunity to be up by even more, but they were not able to take advantage of their opportunities late in the half.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Bragg said. “We had a game plan, but at times we tried to go too fast. We threw passes before looking at the target. We were thinking about shooting before we got the ball and seeing if the space was there, and that led to some bad decisions.

“We calmed down, and we talked about our game plan. We stuck to our game plan.

“I’m a big fan of zone. We played a 1-2-2, and we try to put pressure on them. We want to put pressure on the ball handler. We want to force bad passes, and we want to get out in transition with the opportunity to get some layups.

“At times, we were not as aggressive as I wanted us to be. We sat back, and we did not jump the passes.

“After that, we got back to doing what we wanted to do. We forcing them to force the ball. We forced them to make some bad passes.”

In the victory, Catholic Central hit 22-of-62 shot attempts, while going 7-of-15 from the charity stripe. The Crusaders grabbed 32 rebounds with 19 of them coming on the defensive end of the court. The winners blocked two shots on the night and committed 15 turnovers.

Individually, Jackie O’Karma collected seven of her team’s 14 assists. Natalie Cherepko produced six of her team’s 15 steals, while Mary Rohde recorded four.

Catholic Central 58, Bishop Rosecrans 43

Bishop Rosecrans 13 9 12 9 – 43

Catholic Central 10 14 15 19 – 58

BISHOP ROSECRANS (7-13): Joseph 1 1-2 4, Moody 0 2-4 2, Cabrera 0 0-0 0, Bernett 3 2-2 8, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Sagan 3 5-8 12, Worden 0 1-2 1, Jenkins 6 3-5 16. TOTALS: 13 14-23 43.

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (10-13): Rohde 4 2-4 10, Cherepko 1 0-0 3, Maragos 5 2-3 16, O’Karma 2 0-0 4, Arai 6 3-8 15, Hoover 0 0-0 0, Delaney 4 0-0 10, Marcino 0 0-0 0, Grafe 0 0-0 0, Rigaud 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 7-15 58.

3-POINTERS: Bishop Rosecrans 3 (Joseph, Sagan, Jenkins); Catholic Central 7 (Maragos 4, Delaney 2, Cherepko)