photo by: Kim North

Martins Ferry’s Makayla Cole (13) drives to the basket for two of her nine points Monday night as the Purple Riders defeated Bellaire, 61-40, inside Tolbert Gymnasium.

MARTINS FERRY – For the first time in Dave Reasbeck’s second go-round as head coach of the Martins Ferry girls’ basketball team has recorded a regular-season sweep of Bellaire.

The Purple Riders (7-3) collected some huge bonus points with a 61-40 victory over the visiting Big Reds (8-3) inside Tolbert Gymnasium.

While the lop-sided triumph wasn’t a work of art, Reasbeck said that’s the way his team plays.

“You’re never gonna say how good we are or how pretty we are, that’s not what we do. Our goal is to play harder than you. Our goal is to put a beating on our opponent, and our goal is to score more points than you in the end,” he said. “You’re never going to leave the gym saying ‘boy, that team is really good, but when you play us, you feel us.

“That’s the type of team we are. You don’t look at our scores because all of our games are close unless we have a major athletic advantage,” he added. “But we’re going to do what we have to to win the game. Our goal is to win every game.”

After the Big Reds took a 1-0 lead, Martins Ferry ran out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter and was never really threatened from there on.

The Purple Riders held a 26-16 lead midway through the second quarter but used a 11-2 run to end the half ahead, 37-18.

Bellaire scored 10 of the first 11 points of the third panel to creep to within 10, 38-28, but the hosts ran off 13 of the final 15 points for a commanding 51-33 advantage heading into the final chapter.

Junior Maddie Lucas paced Martins Ferry with a game-high 21 points, with 17 coming in the first half. She connected on 8 of 10 shots from the floor. Classmate Giana Chirpas added 19 points and 10 rebounds.

“Chirpas was solid. That’s what she does,” Reasbeck noted. “Maddie was tremendous. She’s very underrated. She is one of the best three-point (female) athletes in the Ohio Valley. If she can score 17 points a night, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

Senior Mikayla Cole came off the bench to net nine points.

“Makayla got us some huge buckets when we needed them in the second half,” Reasbeck said of his role player. “That’s what we need. We’ve got about 8-9 girls in our rotation now, and we need them all.”

One player that he doesn’t have at his disposal right now is Alivia Reese who sustained a knee injury. Her status is up in the air.

“I’m not sure how long she will be out,” Reasbeck said.

Despite not playing their best, the Purple Riders had 22 turnovers, Reasbeck was proud of his team’s effort.

“I’m tickled to death with this win. It’s been six years since we’ve swept them,” he acknowledged. “They are 8-2 and ahead of us in the OVAC. I’m happier than heck to get a 21-point win.”

On the opposite bench, John Farrier wasn’t as pleased.

“When you have 29 turnovers you’re not going to beat a good team, and Martins Ferry is a good team,” Farrier said. “They want to force you into turnovers and that’s what they did. Our goal in a game is 14 turnovers or less and tonight we had 15 more than that. That’s 15 times you can score, but when you turn it over that leads to easy points for them.

“I can’t fault our effort,” he added. “I thought we played hard. We just didn’t make the right play or take care of the ball. We have to handle the pressure better.”

Kayla Edgar led the Big Reds with 14 points. She was the lone player in double figures as Tamya Morgan had eight to go along with a game-best 12 rebounds.