NEW MARTINSVILLE – One of the trademarks for coach Rick Isaly’s River High teams for the past two-plus decades has been their ability to apply a press when needed.

It was put into action Monday night as the third quarter began at Magnolia High School when the Lady Pilots created turnovers to push the tempo up a notch in a 45-40 repeat win.

Neither squad torched the nets and missed opportunities were plenty on both sides, but River reversed a halftime deficit fueled by senior standout Zoey Fox with a 16-0 run to start the second half.

Fox and sophomore guard Carleigh Trifonoff each had 18 points for the winners, now 5-8, while sophomore Kaylee Yost’s 16 paced a young Blue Eagles club minus one starter due to widespread sickness at Magnolia.

“We had 129 kids out at school with sickness,” said coach Tim Starkey, of his ­4-5 record squad. “We’re young and (River) has three senior starters. We sagged the middle to make them beat us from the outside.”

Magnolia had enough possessions, but 24 turnovers derailed a shot to avenge an earlier 54-25 loss at Hannibal. “We left too many points on the floor.”

“We got our press working,” said Isaly, “but (Zoey’s) 3-pointer to end the half was a momentum swing for us,” as River closed to 21-20 after leading only once prior to intermission.

Blue Eagle sophomore Karli Warder scored underneath to open the third before the Lady Pilots took over the next five minutes.

Senior center Ava Wohnhas scored in the post to ignite the run, Fox put River up to stay with a swish and she dished to Trifonoff for a 26-23 lead.

A Wohnhas hoop and a coast-to-coast layup from Fox forced a Magnolia timeout at 3:37 before a Trifonoff trey, Wohnhas’ drive, and a Fox free toss made it 36-23.

The hosts, who visit Tyler Consolidated, Thursday, refused to fold as Warder scored twice and a Yost hoop cut it to 36-29 after three.

River opened the fourth with five straight including Fox’s reverse layup, but Sockman, Audri Quinn, and Yost scored to slice it to 41-38 with 54 seconds to go.

Missed chances on both ends led to a final timeout by Isaly at :19 with his club clinging to a three-point lead. Trifonoff sewed it up with a pair at the line at :14 and again at :06 to offset a last tick Eagle hoop.

River is home to Cameron tonight and hosts Shadyside, Thursday. Senior Lynn Jones, Fox, and Wohnhas had six rebounds apiece for the visitors, who shot 26 percent on 17-of-65.

Magnolia shot 32 percent on 16-of-50.