STEUBENVILLE – Letting a team hang around can be a recipe for disaster as the Catholic Central girls’ basketball team found out during the regular season in its game against Malvern.

The Crusaders and Hornets met again Saturday afternoon in an Ohio Division VII Eastern District Quarterfinal, and once again the game was not decided until the fourth quarter.

Catholic Central – the No. 5 seed – appeared to be one the verge of pulling away from sixth-seeded Malvern on three occasions only to see the Hornets storm their way back into things with the Hornets ultimately taking the lead twice.

The visitors closed to within one point in the third quarter, however, they were unable to get over the hump for the third time as the Crusaders eventually pulled away as Catholic Central collected a 66-50 victory inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium.

“We kept talking all week about staying focused and staying in control,” Catholic Central (12-11) head coach Rocky Bragg said. “We did not want to play rushed. When we rush, that is when we make mistakes, and we have turnovers and things. We kept our composure today. I am proud of our guard play today.”

With the win, Catholic Central will play No. 1 seed Strasburg in the district semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday at a site to be determined. Strasburg (19-5) advanced to the game by defeating No. 8 seed Bishop Rosecrans, 76-13, Saturday afternoon after opening the tournament by defeating Bridgeport, 70-9, Wednesday at home.

“We are going to watch film on them, and we are going to try and find a weakness,” Bragg said. “We are going to look at their style of play, and we are going to try and come through with a win on Wednesday.”

The Crusaders and Tigers did not play during the regular season, but Strasburg did defeat Malvern, 69-37, Jan. 21 on the road.

It took key contributions from multiple people for the Crusaders to finally put the Hornets (14-9) away.

“Gemma Rigaud played a really-strong game,” Bragg said. “That was the best game of her career, and she saved her best for her last home game. I am really proud of her. Mary Rohde played her heart out. We had to limit her minutes because of fouls. She is not used to sitting on the bench during games. We had to use her wisely. We had to use her at the right moments. I am really proud of her. Aurie Hoover really came into her own. She did a great job of managing the offense. She knew when to push the ball and when to slow things down. Shya Garcia, man can she shoot. She did a great job. She is part of the future of this team. She is going to be a great leader. Her time is going to come. She really contributed today. Mara Delaney, it was not her best shooting day, but she contributed in different ways. Her defense was spectacular. Her court vision was awesome. She was able to find the holes in the defense. I am so proud of her.”

The score was knotted up 27 at halftime.

The Crusaders, tallied two 3-pointers to take a 35-29 lead. They looked like they were in control, but the Hornets battled back and closed to within 35-34. Malvern had the momentum, but the hosts were able to right the ship and turn the tide as they responded with an 8-0 capped by another 3-pointer to increase their lead to 42-34.

The victors increased their advantage to 44-35 thanks to a pair of free throws with 1:05 left to play in the quarter, however, the Hornets netted the last five points of the quarter to pull to within 44-40 entering the fourth. Malvern had opportunities to pull even closer, however, two missed foul shots prevented the Hornets from making it a one-possession game.

The Crusaders got off to a much-needed fast start in the fourth as Catholic Central scored the first six points of the quarter to extend its advantage out to 50-40 with 5:54 remaining in the game. The Hornets refused to go away quietly as the visitors from Carroll County answered right back with a basket to cut their deficit down to eight, however, they were unable to get any closer as the home team tallied another spurt and led by as many as 17 points in the fourth en route to the win.

“We looked, and they like to shoot shots from the corner, so we overplayed that,” Bragg said. “We did not want to let them shoot from the corner. I think they only had one shot from the corner in the second half. We did not want them shooting from there.

“We stayed focused. We made a change to our defense. We ran a 2-3 spread. We wanted to move them farther out. We wanted to make them uncomfortable, and you could see it. You could see that they were uncomfortable. They are a good team. They scored 50 points, but our defense was the key.”

Four players produced double digits in points for the Crusaders. Individually, Delaney delivered a game-high 23 points to lead the way for her team. Also, Garcia recorded 17, Rohde ended up with 14 and Hoover contributed 10.

Garcia and Delaney combined to hit seven 3-pointers in the win with the sophomore Garcia draining five of them. The Hornets made one shot from the beyond arc.

For Malvern, Ella Debo tallied a team-high 19 points to lead the way, while Addy Mitchell and Whitney Smith each collected 11.

The Crusaders ran out to a 9-2 advantage with 4:35 left in the first forcing the Hornets to call a timeout. The tactic worked as Malvern responded with an 11-0 run to take a 13-11 lead before Delaney drained a pair of shots from the free-throw line to even the score at 13 at the end of the quarter.

A pair of shots from long range gave Catholic Central a 24-18 lead in the second, however, Malvern answered with a 9-0 run to take a 27-24 lead. The Crusaders countered with a three-point play to head to the locker room at halftime with the score deadlocked at 27.

“They are a resilient team,” Bragg said. “There is no quit in Malvern. They are well coached. There is no quit in them. They are gritty. We knew they were not going to quit We wanted to keep our composure. When we got the lead, we did not want to get to high, and when we made a mistake we did not want to get too low.

“We wanted to play our game. We wanted to play at an even flow. We wanted to play to our ability. We wanted to play to our strength. We showed that as we were able to win by 16 points today.”

The Crusaders knew the Hornets were not going to quit because they didn’t quit when the two teams met in December. Catholic Central led by 11 points early in the fourth quarter, however, Malvern stormed back and ended the game on a 23-10 run capped off by a buzzer-beating putback by Debo allowing the Hornets to sting the Crusaders, 56-54, Dec. 22 on the road. The final sequence began with a shot from the corner, making that a big point of emphasis for Catholic Central going into the postseason game.

The game was the final one at home for Catholic Central’s four seniors – Mary Fink, Kenadie Balabin, Rohde and Rigaud.

“I am so proud of them,” Bragg said. “We had the opportunity to have all four seniors on the court in the last seconds of the game. I have the best assistants. Coach (Natasha) Canella mentioned it to me late in the game. We wanted to get the seniors on the floor at the end to thank them for everything they have done for the program.”

The win snapped Catholic Central’s five-game losing streak to end the regular season.

“It feels good to a get a win in the postseason,” Bragg said. “We have won one in all three of my years. We want to keep it going. I will take another one. We are going to watch and see who we play. We are going to watch film, and we are going to get ready for Wednesday.”

Catholic Central 66, Malvern 50

Malvern 13 14 13 10 – 50

Catholic Central 13 14 17 22 – 66

MALVERN (14-9): Mitchell 5 0-1 11, Sprague 1 0-0 2, Craven 0 0-0 0, Harmon 0 0-0 0, Debo 6 7-10 19, Smith 4 3-6 11, Wade 0 0-0 0, Long 3 1-3 7. TOTALS: 21 11-20 50.

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (12-11): Lathem 0 0-0 0, Hoover 2 6-6 10, Fink 0 0-0 0, Delaney 8 7-8 23, Balabin 0 0-0 0, Bolster 1 0-0 2, Rohde 4 6-7 14, Garcia 6 0-4 17, Rigaud 1 0-2 2. TOTALS: 22 19-27.

3-POINTERS: Malvern 1 (Mitchell); Catholic Central (Garcia 5, Delaney 2)