WHEELING — With turnovers, missed layups and mini-scoring runs being a running theme throughout Wednesday night’s girls’ basketball game between Weir and Wheeling Central, it appeared even with an eight-point lead heading to the fourth quarter that the contest could come down to the Red Riders’ inability to convert free throws.

However, when push came to shove and Coach Rick Stead’s squad was pushed to the limits, it was the charity stripe that eventually made the difference in a positive way for his team.

Bella Aperfine and Taylor Nutter were each 4 of 4 from the line down the stretch and Weir drained 11 of 12 from the stripe over the final 8 minutes, after hitting just 8 of 17 in the previous three frames, to hold on for a thrilling 57-54 repeat victory over the Maroon Knights on Coach Skip Prosser Court inside Central’s East Wheeling Gym.

Overall, on the night the Red Riders (5-3) had five runs of five points or more, including a huge 12-0 burst in the second quarter, while Coach Roberta Olejasz’ 4-5 record club had three of their own, including an 8-0 burst to answer their visitors just before half.

The third quarter turned out to be a big difference maker for Weir, which sat in a 30-30 deadlock with 4:01 to play in the chapter before four different players hit the scoring column to end the third on an 8-0 burst for a 38-30 advantage with eight minutes to play.

But the Maroon Knights continued to fight back, using an 8-2 run midway through the fourth to even the count at 44-44 on a pair of Marisa Horan free throws with exactly three minutes remaining. However, Sophia Aperfine came up huge before leaving the game with an injury. The sophomore standout converted a conventional three-point play to give the visitors the lead for good and then forced a turnover on a jump ball, before hitting her head hard on the floor on the play and being forced to miss the remainder of the contest.

Senior Leah Maley, who scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the first half, got an easy basket off of the turnover to make it a five-point lead with 1:36 to go. Central was within 53-51 at the 42 second mark but Bella Aperfine’s four charity tosses, sandwiched around a long Horan triple, provided the difference.

“The former coach here, Bill Smith, used to always say that if you hit layups, make foul shots and score at least 50 points you are going to have a chance to win a girls’ basketball game,” Stead said with a smile. “Thankfully, we were able to shoot a lot better from the line in the fourth quarter. But give Roberta’s team credit, they really came out ready to play (Wednesday).

“That big run in the second quarter was huge and I think our three-quarter court diamond confused them a little and we forced some turnovers, I just wish we could have closed the half a little better instead of letting them get back in it.”

The Red Riders opened the game on a 5-0 run, watched the Knights answer with a 9-1 burst and then scored six more in a row before eventually trailing by a 14-12 margin heading to the second. Leading 18-16 early in the second Wheeling Central started turning the ball over and missed the missed layups began adding up as Weir used a 12-0 blitz to take a 28-18 lead with three minutes showing.

But again, the Maroon Knights had answers with sophomore Lily Vogrin and Horan each hitting threes and senior Tristen White adding a late basket to cut the deficit to 28-26 at the break.

“I am terribly discouraged by all of the layups we missed (Wednesday),” Olejasz said. “We have talked about keeping your eyes on the rim and we spent almost the entire practice Tuesday working on that and free throws. And to make it worse we were playing in our own gym (Wednesday).

“We host Oak Glen (Thursday), so we have to be able to bounce back quickly, and I believe we will. I saw some really good things out there (Wednesday).

Bella Aperfine scored 13 for the winners while Sophia Aperfine and Nutter scored 12 each. Maley (14-10) and Nutter (12-13) each finished with double-doubles for the Riders. Horan led all scorers with 17 for Central while Abbey Jones came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down 10 rebounds. Canestraro also had 11 off the pine while Tristen White finished with eight points and corralled 10 boards.

Oak Glen 69, Brooke 50

NEW CUMBERLAND — Alexus Greenlief and Sarah Brown each netted 17 points as Oak Glen downed Brooke.

Reece Enochs contributed 16 points for the Golden Bears.

Madison Platt turned in a career-high 30 points to pace the Bruins, while teammate Ava Bolen added 14.