STEUBENVILLE — The Steubenville girls’ basketball team showcased its ability to score in bunches Saturday afternoon. Big Red was able to get out and run leading to multiple baskets in transition, and Chaney was unable to keep up.

Sparked by a 16-0 run in the first quarter, Big Red built a 16-point advantage and did not look back en route to a 64-45 victory inside the Crimson Center.

“We talk about our defense creating our offense,” Big Red (4-0) head coach Angie Forte said. “We want to get stops. We want to get rebounds. We want to get out and run. I’m very proud of their effort securing rebounds. We talk about controlling the boards. Our goal is to get out in transition.”

The Red-and-Black got a little sloppy in the second as the hosts forced up some shots and committed some unforced turnovers enabling the girls from Mahoning County to whittle down their deficit. The girls in red outscored the girls in white by two points in the quarter to make the score, 33-20 going into the locker room at halftime.

“Chaney is quick,” Forte said. “They defend well. I think it was a combination of the two. They played good defense. They made it a little harder for us to get clean looks at the basket. We have to be more patient. When we are not open, we have to make the extra pass. We have to be more patient. I’m glad we were able to overcome that and get going again in the second half.”

Big Red responded in the third as the hosts extend their advantage as they built a 21-point lead (47-26) late in the quarter. The victors led 47-28 going into the fourth.

A pair of 3-pointers pulled the visitors to within 51-39, however, they were unable to get any closer as the home team increased its lead back out to 21 (64-43) before winning the game by 19.

“We talk about the ups-and-downs in games,” Forte said. “We want to stay strong. We knew they were going to go on a run. We were going to go on a run.

“The biggest thing for us was composure. Melissa Bowers said the No. 1 thing for us was going to be composure. Composure was the word of the day. It was the No. 1 key for us today. It is still up on the board. It was important for us to overcome the ups-and-downs of the game.”

Offensively for Big Red, Nyla McShan scored a team-high 23 points, while Lucy Saccoccia and Phynyx Fleming each finished with 11.

“I’m really proud of this group of girls,” Forte said about her team. “They make it exciting to coach them.”

For Chaney, Alyssa Brown tallied a game-high 25 points, while Serenity Parker collected eight.

With the win, the Big Red seniors are now 4-0 for the first time in their high school careers.

“It has been more than four years since we have been 4-0,” Forte said. “We have gotten off to a great start. The girls are playing really well. They are playing together. We want to continue to play this way as the season goes on.”

Chaney is scheduled to play Niles McKinley Monday at home.

Big Red is slated to play Linsly Tuesday night on the road. Big Red defeated the Cadets, 67-19, Thursday night at home. Big Red is not going to take the Cadets lightly in their second matchup.

“We talked about that,” Forte said. “You don’t know what you are going to get from one game to another. Linsly is scrappy. They played hard the whole game. You have to come out every day ready to play basketball.”

Big Red 64, Chaney 45

Chaney 5 15 8 17 – 45

Big Red 20 13 14 17 – 64

CHANEY (2-+): Pagan Asencio 0 0-0 0, Burley-Anderson 1 0-0 3, Parker 3 1-6 8, Howell 0 0-0 0, Law 0 0-0 0, Lewis 1 2-2 4, Brown 9 5-5 25, Jackson 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 16 8-13 45.

BIG RED (4-0): Bowers 0 3-4 3, Saccoccia 4 1-2 11, Lewis 0 0-0 0, Fleming 5 0-1 11, Thompson 3 0-0 6, Younce 0 0-0 0, Scurry 0 0-0 0, Taylor 2 0-0 4, McShan 6 11-18 23, Beall 2 0-0 6, Green 0 0-0 0, Montgomery 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 15-25 64.

3-POINTERS: Chaney 4 (Brown 3, Burley-Anderson); Big Red 5 (Saccoccia 2, Beall 2, Fleming)