STEUBENVILLE — A sign of a good teams is finding a way to win when it is not at its best.

The Edison girls’ basketball team was not on top of its game against Jefferson County rival Catholic Central, but the Wildcats broke open a tied game in the third before pulling away for a 48-36 victory against the Crusaders Monday night inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium.

“Our effort changed,” Edison (9-0) head coach Mark Smyth said about what changed for his team leading to its big run. “Our effort changed, and it sparked our offense and our defense. We played with more intensity. It is good when your defense turns into your offense.”

The score was knotted at 24 in the third before the visitors ripped off a 24-9 run to lead by 13 with 49.5 seconds left to play.

“I thought early on we were getting good looks, but we were not knocking down shots,” Smyth said. “I am proud of the girls. At one point, we were down 20-13, and we came back to take the lead going into halftime. Give Rocky credit. He’s a good coach. They had a good gameplan. Their girls played hard. They made it super tough on us to get opportunities, but we have to be able to knock down shots.”

The Crusaders were right there with the Wildcats except for a handful of minutes when the victors went on their big run to break the game open.

“We talked prior to the game about playing with cool heads and being patient,” Catholic Central (5-6) head coach Rocky Bragg said. “We focused on our press break. We always wanted to have someone open. They are a great team. They are coached well. They put pressure on us, and we got flustered. In the first half, we were focused. We broke their press well. We were able to set up our halfcourt offense, and we were able to get some shots.

“In the third quarter, we had some calls not go our way, and that led to some scoring opportunities for them. Our girls got flustered. I called a couple of timeouts trying to calm the down and trying to keep them focused. We wanted to keep our composure. It worked for a little bit. Then, they started to score, and we felt we had to match them immediately, and we got caught up in that.”

With the score knotted at 24 in the third, the Wildcats tallied 11 of the final 14 points of the quarter to take a 35-27 lead into the fourth.

“We were ready for them,” Bragg said. “The coaching staff prepared the girls well. We showed that in the first half. The girls played a really strong game. I am proud of them. They did not back down. The final score is not indicative of how well we played. It was a tight for other than five minutes. In that five minutes, they were able to build a lead, but our girls played well.”

Sophia Henderson produced a game-high 14 points to lead the way offensively for the Wildcats, Abby Carpenter recorded 13 and Abby Boka collected eight.

Mara Delaney tallied a team-high 12 points to lead the way for the Crusaders, Mary Rohde delivered nine points and Aurie Hoover contributed seven.

“Rohde is a game changer,” Smyth said. “She’s long and athletic. They were able to close the paint. We were not knocking down our jump shots. Give Catholic Central credit. They made it tough on us. It was a gritty game. There were a lot of bodies on the floor. That’s a testament to Rocky. It was a rough game, and it turned into a good game.”

Carpenter converted two shots from the free-throw line to give Edison a 10-8 lead at the end of the first.

“It was a gritty game,” Bragg said. “I was talking to Coach Smyth before the game, and basketball in the Ohio Valley has become a game of a lot of pressure, they press and they trap. That makes it tough on the refs. I do not envy them. You have to learn how to adapt. You have to learn how to play that syle and how to play through that style, and it leads to that type of game.”

The Blue-and-Gold responded in the second as the hosts ripped off a run of their own to take a 20-13 lead. The Crusaders led by seven, however, the Silver-and-Black answered back with a 9-0 spurt capped by a 3-pointer by Boka to regain the lead at 22-20. A foul shot by Shya Garcia pulled Catholic Central to within 22-21 at halftime.

“I am very proud of the girls,” Bragg said. “There is no quit in them. You’re always going to get their best effort. You don’t like to lose. Nobody in that locker room wants to lose. We play a tough schedule. You don’t see teams in OVAC Class 2A playing teams the caliber of Big Red and Edison. We play bigger schools. Our schedule is full of bigger schools. Our schedule is tough. We have to show up every night ready to play.”

Henderson sustained an injury in the game, but the senior standout was able to return to the court.

“I told the girls in there I was hot happy with how we played, but it feels good to get a win against a good team,” Smyth said. “It is nice to get a win when you do not play as well as you should or as well as you can. That’s a testament to Catholic Central. They had a big hand in us not playing well. I don’t want to take anything away from them.”

Edison is scheduled to take on Bellaire Friday night at home out at the Edison Fieldhouse. The JV game is set to start at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity game to follow.

“It should be a good game,” Smyth said.

Catholic Central is slated to play Weir Monday night at home. The JV game will start at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity game to follow. The game was originally scheduled to be played up at The Franciscan University of Steubenville, but ended up having to be moved to Catholic Central.

“We have not played Weir in a while,” Bragg said. “It will be nice to begin that rivalry again.”

Edison 48, Catholic Central 36

Edison 10 12 13 13 – 48

Catholic Central 8 13 6 9 – 36

EDISON (9-0): Boka 2 3-5 8, Pelley 0 1-2 1, A. Casto 0 0-0 0, Rawson 0 0-0 0, Carpenter 5 2-4 13, Henderson 5 4-5 14, Cronin 0 0-0 0, Koehnlein 0 0-0 0, Glover 2 2-2 6, Ault 2 1-2 6. TOTALS: 16 13-20 48.

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (5-6): Lathem 0 0-0 0, Hoover 3 1-2 7, Dankert 1 0-0 2, Fink 0 0-0 0, Krivoniak 0 0-0 0, Delaney 5 0-0 12, Wise 0 0-0 0, Balabin 0 0-0 0, Bolster 0 1-2 1, Rohde 4 1-4 9, Garcia 1 1-2 3, Brem 0 0-0 0, Rigaud 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 34-9 36.

3-POINTERS: Edison 3 (Boka, Carpenter, Ault); Catholic Central 2 (Delaney 2)