GUARDING — Indian Creek’s Gracie Klinesmith guards John Marshall’s Rilee Storm on Thursday night. - Kim North

MOUNDSVILLE — Indian Creek came into Thursday night’s girls basketball game against John Marshall riding a high after winning the OVAC WVU Medicine Class 4A championship on Saturday. The Monarchs, meanwhile, had lost back-to-back contests.

None of that mattered once the ball was tossed into the air for the opening tip as the Monarchs (14-6) broke a 10-all deadlock after one quarter with a 42-22 margin in the middle two panels en route to a convincing, 69-42, victory over the stunned Redskins (17-4) inside the John Marshall Fieldhouse.

“It’s not a secret that when we are good, it’s because of our defense,” John Marshall head coach Brock Melko said. “Our offense can come and go where we miss layups and miss three’s, but we make teams earn their points. I know the Walker girls ended up with a lot of points, but they were hard-earned points because we made her work for them.

“We did a good job of staying in front of them and forcing them into some bad shots.”

John Marshall started the second quarter on a 12-0 run and never looked back. The ‘Big 3’ of Kalyn Reese (5), Rilee Storm (4) and Kaylee White (3) sparked the surge that led to a 22-10 advantage.

The Redskins fought back with a 7-0 run of their own, but those points would be the only ones they would score in the quarter as half-a-dozen turnovers hampered their shot attempts.

Storm, the West Virginia Wesleyan signee, scored before the buzzer for a 24-17 margin. She only had four points in the first 16 minutes.

“By her standards, she had a really bad offensive game in the first half,” Melko advised. “She wasn’t touching the ball when we needed her to, and we were bad offensively as a team. We said at halftime that it was a bad offensive half for us, but we knew our offense would come when Rilee got the ball in her hands.”

Storm more than made up for her lack of production in the first half as she netted 13 of her team-high 19 in a 28-point third-quarter blitz that extended the lead to 20, 52-32, after three quarters.

“Two things that stood out to me in that quarter was, No. 1, we didn’t turn the ball over one time, and No. 2, we took good shots,” Melko added.

John Marshall connected on 10-of-13 shots from the floor and all but one of its seven free throws in the period, while forcing four more turnovers – which equalled the Monarchs total for the game.

“I think they scored about 30 points in the third quarter and we weren’t helping ourselves with turnovers,” Indian Creek head coach Steve Eft said. “We came out a little sluggish … a little tired. I don’t know if it was an OVAC championship hangover, or what. It could’ve been but we’ve had a long couple of weeks. We looked a little tired and they made us pay for it.

Storm, who also charted six rebounds, four steals and two assists, was supported in double figures by White with 16 and Reese with 15. The trio outscored Indian Creek by themselves. White also finished with a game-best eight rebounds and had three steals. Reese had five boards and a pair of thefts. Paislee Babiczuk added six points and five rebounds.

Indian Creek’s Kaydence Walker led all scorers with 21 points, but only Riley Sadler joined her in twin digits with 10.

John Marshall shot over 50 percent (25-49) from the floor and was 15-for-18 from the charity stripe. Indian Creek was a mere 14 of 30 from the floor and finished with 15 turnovers.

John Marshall 69, Indian Creek 42

INDIAN CREEK – Walker 7 6-7 21; Taylor 1 0-0 2; Wiley 0 0-0 0; Sadler 3 3-4 10; Klinesmith 2 2-4 7; Crouch 1 0-0 2; Totals: 14-30 11-15 42. JOHN MARSHALL – Storm 5 7-7 19; White 6 4-5 16; Reese 7 0-1 15; Inclan 2 0-0 4; Babicuk 2 2-3 6; Dijkstra 1 0-0 3; Miller 1 0-0 2; Shock 0 2-2 2; Zuk 1 0-0 2; Totals: 25-49 15-18 69

Three-point goals: Indian Creek 3 (Walker, Sadler, Klinesmith). John Marshall 4 (Storm 2, Reese, Dijkstra)