Wheeling Central, who moves to 10-1 on the season, couldn’t shake the Cadets in the opening quarter, leading by a slim 16-13 mark after the first. Linsly made three 3-pointers in the period– two from Maria Martin– but the Cadets couldn’t keep pace with Wheeling Central, who started the second quarter on a 14-4 run behind an avalanche of baskets from Maroon Knights senior Erin Maxwell.

Maxwell scored a career-high 28 to go with eight rebounds Monday.

“I thought she ran the floor well,” Wheeling Central head coach Roberta Olejasz said of Maxwell. “I thought she was in the passing lanes. She made some plays, got some steals for us, some deflections for us, which got her in a position to get some run outs. She was also banging around underneath, made some great moves to get those 28 points. She did a great job offensively and defensively for us.”

After missing her first field goal attempt of the game, Maxwell didn’t miss again until a shot off the rim with two minutes to play in the second quarter. She’d dumped in nine baskets in-between.

Wheeling Central led 39-22 at halftime, and kept their lead to at least 14 the rest of the game. The Maroon led 60-29 after three quarters.

Central ended with 15 assists on 29 field goals, with a ton of pass-and-cut action leading to scores inside or trips to the foul line for the Knights.

“I’d say we’re sharing the ball pretty well at this point,” Olejasz said. “We’re moving the ball, passing and cutting, playing off of each other. Tonight we did, and this weekend we did it against East Fairmont too. We’re just moving the ball and finding each other really, really well right now. Hopefully that can continue.”

Seneca Heller was Wheeling Central’s assist leader with five on the day. Heller was also the beneficiary of many of those feeds off of cuts, scoring 17 points.

Addie Payton also had three assists on the day, the Maroon’s next-highest total. Payton, who made her return from a knee injury that had sidelined her for most of the new year, played limited minutes but still made an impact. She sunk a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

“We were trying to get her a few minutes here and there and it’s great to see her back out on the floor,” Olejasz said. “It was tremendous to have her out there. Especially having another ball handler out there, and getting her back in shooting form– seeing her hit that three was great too. It was tremendous to have one of your starters back, and one of the top defenders in the state.”

Bella Fitzsimmons put up a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double for Wheeling Central, making three 3-pointers.

Linsly was led by Laura Valderas, who scored 13 for the Cadets with four rebounds and three assists, while Martin scored nine. Alejandra Fernandez finished with five assists.

“They’re very senior-heavy,” Linsly head coach Rebecca Upton said of Wheeling Central. “We’re freshmen and sophomores, so we’re still learning. We’re still growing, we’re going to get it together, but [Central is] in a really good place right now. They have a lot of senior leadership. They have a lot of talent on the floor. It was nice to see Addie Payton back out on the floor tonight, that she’s not gonna be done for the season with that knee situation. So we were really happy for her. We just have things to work on because we’re young and inexperienced, so we’re going to get it together.”

Linsly remains at home for their next game, hosting Fort Frye on Jan. 24. Wheeling Central stays on the road, traveling to Monroe Central on Jan. 22.