The Knights’ crucial start was set ablaze by sophomore Bella Fitzsimmons, who continued a torrid shooting spree with a perfect 5-5 display from deep in the first quarter, days seven shots from beyond the arc in Central’s OVAC Semifinals victory over Bellaire.

“Tremendous,” Wheeling Central head coach Robert Olejasz said of Fitzsimmons. “She was 7-11 the other night and then 5-5 in the first quarter for us. She’s becoming a very big offensive threat.”

Addie Payton knocked down both her 3-point attempts as well for the Knights, who shot 7-9 from deep to speed out to a 27-9 first-quarter lead. St. Marys had trouble controlling the ball in the opening frame as well, a slew of turnovers digging a deep whole for the Blue Devils.

“We talked about getting out of the gates early tonight, and we didn’t do it,” St. Marys head coach Fred King said. “Defensively, we left too many people open, and that’s a good basketball team. We preached- No. 3 [Fitzsimmons], No. 11 [Payton], you can’t help off them, you’ve got to stick on them, or they’re going to put it up- and they did. They had six or seven 3’s in the first quarter.”

Central’s lead grew to as much as 22 in the second quarter, but the Blue Devils battled back into the game with tenacious rebounding and improved defense, cutting their deficit to as little as six in the fourth quarter before the Knights were able to retake control and pull away by the final buzzer.

“If I’ve got it right, we outscored them in the second and fourth and tied in the third, for three quarters we did alright,” King said. “But the game is already done.

“Here’s the key: the kids did not quit. We were at Williamstown last Friday, we’re here at Central on Wednesday, played the No. 3 and the No. 1 team in the state, we’re right in the middle. This is not going to deter us, this is going to help us down the road, playing on the road in two hostile environments. In the region, we might have to go to one of these places. Overall, I don’t like how we started but I like how we stayed with it, we got back into the flow, and we gave great effort.”

St. Marys outscored Wheeling Central 49-46 across the final three frames.

St. Marys won the rebounding battle 31-25, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds, most coming in the second half. The extra chances helped the Blue Devils cut into a lead that remained as big as 21 in the second half, but quickly evaporated into single digits after a 12-3 run late in the third quarter and 12-4 run to start the fourth.

“Hustle,” King said of his team’s comeback. “On defense, they were deflecting balls, jumping in passing lanes, they were doing all the little things right. They started playing as we’re capable. We started guarding better, we started helping, and we started moving the ball better on offense. We just did not get off to a good start.”

Addie Davis scored nine points in the fourth quarter, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to get her Blue Devils within six, 61-55, but the Wheeling Central duo of Seneca Heller and Kaitlyn Blake took over the scoring down the stretch to expand the lead back out to double figures by the finish.

The two combined for 15 in the fourth quarter, going 6-6 from the line.

“[St. Marys] got a little bit aggressive, we called a timeout and got ourselves back into it,” Olejasz said. “They were rebounding the ball pretty well at that point. We got back into doing what we do, rebounding the ball. We were a little helter-skelter there for a second but we got back into what we do, put some more points on the board, and held them off.”

Blake finished with 23 points and nine rebounds. Fitzsimmons had 19, Heller scored 14 with five assists and five steals, and Payton had 13.

“The girls were ready to play, the defense looked tremendous again tonight,” Olejasz said. “We were in all the spots we were supposed to be and they were just ready to go. Our offense was clicking on all cylinders. Bella Fitzsimmons, Addie Payton, Seneca Heller and Kaitlyn Blake were all in double figures tonight, and Haley Severns did a tremendous job in the post for us too. When we’re playing like that it’s going to be tough to beat us.”

Davis led St. Marys with 21 points and 10 rebounds, with Brynnley Bulluck and Laney Watkins each scoring a dozen. Anna Bennett scored seven points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Wheeling Central will next take to the hardwood for their OVAC 3A Championship game against Fort Frye on Saturday in the ECO Center. Most teams have been in hibernation between the semifinals and finals, but Wheeling Central engaged in a top-three matchup, in the hopes of imitating what a state tournament run for their team might be like.

“We had a big break in December, and we thought, this is how it’ll look in the state tournament- you play a quarterfinal game, then have a day off, then a semifinal game, then the championship game on Saturday,” Olejasz said. “We thought we’d try to set it up like that so that the kids are prepared for the state tournament.”