TO THE HOOP — Big Red’s Lucy Saccoccia goes to the basket against John Marshall on Thursday. - Nick Henthorn

MOUNDSVILLE — After a neck-and-neck second half, Steubenville Big Red was able to pull away for a big OVAC 5A victory on the road vs. the John Marshall Monarchs, 57-47.

It was the second victory of the year for Big Red over the Monarchs, with Steubenville registering a home win over John Marshall on Dec. 17.

“Tonight was just kind of what we knew coming into the game,” John Marshall head coach Brock Melko said. “They’re really good, and we knew we’d have to play our best to beat them and we didn’t play our best. We didn’t play our best up there, and we didn’t play our best here. We’re hoping to see him a third time here in a month in the OVAC championship. It’s gonna be the same deal — if we play our best, we’ll have a chance. If we don’t, well, they’re really good. I think they just outplayed us, out-physicaled us and out-coached us.”

Steubenville senior Nylah McShan was a wrecking ball for Big Red, pouring in a game-high 27 points and playing a pivotal role in carving out an advantage in the interior.

“It means a lot to come in this gym and get a win,” Steubenville head coach Angelita Forte said. “We talked about (McShan’s) career here. She hasn’t won in this gym, so that was something that she wanted to really come out and do. I mean, she plays hard every night. She plays hard, she plays with heart and with passion every night. But this is something that was special and her teammates rallied around her. They got her the ball and she created some things on her own and just had a phenomenal game.”

John Marshall led 11-6 after the first quarter, and Steubenville led 24-21 at halftime. Neither team could get anything easy throughout most of Thursday.

“I asked him for 32 minutes of basketball and that’s what they gave me,” Forte said of her team..” John Marshall is a good team. They’re well-coached. We knew it was gonna be a battle. In their gym, they’re hard to beat. So our girls knew what they were getting into. They knew it was gonna be a battle and they stepped up and did some really good things, played great defense.”

John Marshall was led by Rilee Storm, who put up 20 for the Monarchs.

“We know Rilee can shoot the ball,” Forte said. “So that was one of our goals, was to make sure we got a hand in her face. She still knocked down a couple, but the kids were resilient. They bounced back and they went on to the next play and we were able to execute on the offensive end. I’m just very happy with our effort and that we came out on the winning side.”

McShan was complemented by Lucy Saccoccia (10 points) and Bailee Beal (eight points), while Phynyx Fleming provided for a looming interior presence on both sides of the court.

“I feel like I’ve coached against McShan about 30 times in her career,” Melko said. “I’ll tell ya, I’m ready for her to graduate. She’s one of the toughest players on our schedule. We’ve known that, you know, we try manning her, we try zoning her, what we’re doing is not enough. At halftime she had over half their points. She finished with about half, and it’s not a surprise, we knew it coming in, so if we do see them again, we’re gonna have to game plan to, to send multiple bodies at her and just not let one girl kill us.

“It’s hard because it’s not just a one man show. If you double or triple her, they can knock down shots. They have another really good post. So they’re just a really hard matchup that we’re gonna have to figure out in the future.”

Steubenville led 40-31 going into the fourth quarter.

After Storm’s 20, John Marshall’s Kalyn Reese scored 12, and Masyn Inclan scored eight.

Steubenville (11-1) next plays East Liverpool at home on Jan. 12. John Marshall remains at home to face Linsly on Jan. 13.

Steubenville 57, John Marshall 47

STEUBENVILLE (11-1) Bowers 1 0-2 3; Saccoccia 3 3 2-2 10; Fleming 1 0-0 2; Taylor 2 1-1 6; Thompson 0 1-2 1; McShan 11 4-5 27; Beall 2 2-6 8; Totals 20 10-18 57; JOHN MARSHALL (6-4) Reese 5 1-1 12; White 2 0-2 5; Storm 6 5-8 20; Inclan 3 1-1 8; Babiczuk 1 0-1 2; Totals 17 7-10 47.

Three-point goals: Steubenville 7 (Bowers, Saccoccia 2, Taylor, McShan, Beall 2). John Marshall 6 (Reese, White, Storm 3, Inclan).