ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Beallsville's Tori Jarrett canned four 3-pointers during Sunday's OVAC Samuel A. Mumley All-Star Basketball Classic.
But none was bigger than the final one.
Jarrett's trey with a few ticks remaining on the clock put Ohio at the century mark on the scoreboard Sunday in a 100-68 triumph against West Virginia at the Ohio University Eastern Fitness Center.
Article Photos
Bishop Donahue’s Lacey Hampton shoots over Indian Creek’s Meghan Billick during the OVAC All-Star Game on Sunday at OUE.
Photo by Paul Krajnyak
But it wasn't until about 5 minutes after the game that the Buckeyes found out they had reached the 100-point plateau.
When the players walked off the court, the scoreboard showed 99. But when the players emerged from the locker room following Coach Tina Yates' postgame remarks, members of the media informed the squad of a scoreboard error.
The news gave the team another reason to cheer and another reason for Yates to smile again.
''There were some times we were sluggish and slow, but once we got into the flow of the game we got some quick steals and were able to convert at the other end,'' said Yates, the Shadyside mentor who coached the game along with St. Clairsville's Bruce Stiles and Indian Creek's Erin DeSantis.
Ohio went on a 22-3 run midway through the second half that saw a 59-55 lead grow to 81-58.
The Buckeyes held the Mountaineers to no field goals during the stretch, which included points from nine players.
''We had a bunch of scorers so I was pretty confident they would all get their points.
Jarrett led all scorers with 18 points. But the Blue Devils senior had only two free throws scoring during the decisive run.
Buckeye Trail's Julie Bates converted a three-point play to give Ohio a 62-55 lead with 12:19 remaining in the game.
Back-to-back buckets by Barnesville's Mariah Miller increased the lead to 67-55. Then, Meadowbrook's Bre Jones and Fort Frye's Ashley Okey - the Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration 3-Point Shootout winner at halftime - drained treys to make it a 73-55 game.
Jarrett's free throws made the score 75-58, before baskets by Bridgeport's Rachel Benda, Steubenville's AunDrea West and St. Clairsville's Brooke Cenkus completed the run.
Cenkus finished with 13 points, the only other Ohio player to reach double figures.
The contest was a physical affair, and Cenkus was one of the players battling inside.
''I just wanted to go out there and have fun because it was my last game,'' said the Red Devils standout, who endured a tooth to the head during one of her tussles underneath the basket.
''It was a great experience and I couldn't have asked to have been on a better team.''
With the score tied 26-26 with less than 10 minutes left in the first half, Ohio went on 10-3 spurt to give the Buckeyes a 36-29 lead.
Ohio went on another run - an 8-0 spurt keyed by two Jarrett buckets - to increase the lead to 51-35 near halftime.
But West Virginia responded with a run of its own as the second half began, outscoring the Buckeyes 16-4 to start the second half to come within two points at 55-53.
''I thought about calling a timeout there, but (the players worked their way through it,'' Yates said.
Cameron's Rachel Fisher hit a pair of free throws to start the half. Parkersburg South's Asia Greenleaf and Paden City's Allison Bertozzi followed with baskets to make the score 51-43.
Following back-to-back baskets by Indian Creek's Mikki Davis, the Mountaineers went on a 10-run, capped by a 3-pointer from Hundred's Jordyn Gorby, who finished with 11 points.
But that was as close as West Virginia would get. Indian Creek's Meghan Billick made a layup and Redskins teammate Ty Harris hit two free throws to increase Ohio's lead to 59-53 before the Buckeyes' decisive run.
''It was a game of spurts,'' said Wheeling Park's Meredith Anderson, coaching the West Virginia squad with Wheeling Central's Penn Kurtz and Linsly's Erica Hall.
''We went on a nice run to start the second half. We went to a 2-2-1 zone to try and slow them down. We did everything we could."
Greenleaf led West Virginia with 12 points.
''It was great to be able to take kids that play different styles and be able to mesh them together,'' said Anderson, coaching in her first Mumley Classic. ''It was a neat experience for the kids.''