“Win down there!”

Defense was the top priority for John Marshall on Thursday inside the Palace on the Hill, as the Monarchs held Park to 14 points in the second half during a 53-36 victory.

John Marshall’s stingy second-half efforts helped them extend a 27-22 halftime advantage into a decisive road win.

“Just stayed patient, really,” Melko said of his team after the game. “We weren’t foolish enough to think this was gonna be easy. We knew coming up here, we were going to have to earn everything. Our big thing in preparation leading up was just to win with our defense. You know, they’re well coached. They’re gonna play very hard defensively if we have a slow start, which we did, our shots aren’t falling. We can still win the game if we lock in defensively.”

The Monarchs offense was in a rut out of the gate, producing two points in the first three minutes of the game Thursday, as Wheeling Park’s Leah Young and Italy Schroeder each nailed 3-pointers to put Park ahead 8-2 early.

John Marshall took a temporary 9-8 lead after a Rilee Storm 3-pointer, but Schroeder hit another long ball right before the buzzer to put the Patriots ahead 17-12 after the first quarter.

“I thought we came out of the gates, you know, with a great atmosphere– both schools brought a lot of students and fans and our girls responded with a lot of energy to start the game,” Wheeling Park head coach Ryan Young said. “I thought we played pretty well for the first quarter-and-a-half.

Then we kind of let some things get away from us that have been hindering us. Turnovers– they really killed us on the offensive boards in the first half. That was probably the biggest difference. Half time, as far as the score, if you just limit some of those possessions to one shot, you probably have a good chance of taking the lead into the locker room.”

JM started the second quarter on a 9-0 run, taking a permanent lead midway through the second quarter after Kaylee White made a pair of technical free throws to give the Monarchs an 18-17 lead.

“First quarter, we were terrible,” Melko said. “[Wheeling Park] made seven shots in the first quarter and then the rest of the game combined, I think they only made six. So, I think it was just trusting that if we locked in defensively over the course of the game, we would separate. It helps when Rilee scores about 30.”.

Storm scored 27, a game-high, while also grabbing nine rebounds. She was 11-13 from the foul line.

John Marshall had an advantage at the stripe Thursday, especially in the first half, where the Monarchs were 10-12 from the line, while Park did not attempt a free throw until the third quarter.

“It was part of the game plan,” Melko said of his team’s free-throw shooting. “Our number one thing was win with defense, and number two was play inside out. We were conscious to get the ball inside, whether it was to Paislee or Riley or our guards driving. We wanted to shoot at the basket and not settle.

“I was really proud of how we attacked the basket and lived at the line when we could have just settled for contested jump shots.”

Kaylee White scored 10 points for John Marshall. Kalyn Reese scored eight with seven rebounds and three assists, and Paislee Babiczuk scored eight with nine rebounds.

John Marshall had 17 offensive rebounds Thursday. The Monarchs won the rebounding battle 32-23.

“Rilee Storm is a fabulous player, she had a great game tonight,” Young said. “I thought we even defended her pretty well, and she still was able to score, but that’s why she’s going to college to play basketball. And I thought her supporting cast too, for the most part, they took care of the basketball. I thought Reese and Babiczuk were great on the boards and they made a couple hustle plays there that ultimately, you know, they won the game because of it.”

Schroeder led Wheeling Park with nine points. Brielle Wells scored seven with six rebounds and three assists for the Patriots.

With the win, John Marshall secured a season sweep of the Patriots, having defeated Wheeling Park 59-33 on Dec. 10 in Moundsville.