photo by: Nick Henthorn

John Marshall’s Rilee Storm boxes out Steubenville’s Jazmin Montgomery during a previous regular season game between the Big Red and Monarchs, who are meeting for the third time this season Saturday in the OVAC 5A championship game.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Two teams that are no stranger to one another are set to do battle for the OVAC Class 5A Girls Basketball Championship Saturday morning.

Top seed Steubenville Big Red (18-1) will battle second-seeded John Marshall (13-4) inside the ECO Center to start a full day of championship action, a third meeting between the teams this season.

Big Red won the previous two showdowns in the regular season, 67-40 inside the Crimson Center in December and 57-47 in Glen Dale last month.

Despite a pair of victories over the Monarchs, Big Red head coach Angie Forte expects a battle.

“Whether it is the first time or the 10th time, it’s always a tough match up,” she said. “They match up well with us size wise, they’re extremely long. They play very similar to us, they get up and down the floor and have some good shooters. It should be a very good basketball game.

“We’re going to have to limit our mistakes and work hard to get a win. I’m sure they’ve seen a lot of film on us as well as playing us twice, and we have done the same, so really its going to come down which group of young ladies shows up, plays hard, knocks down shots and outlasts the other.

“We’re looking at two skilled teams, John Marshall is well-coached and will be prepared so we have to show up ready to play 32 minutes of Big Red basketball.”

JM head coach Brock Melko hopes his team learned from the first two meetings and the third time is the charm.

“We’re pumped to be playing Saturday, but if I had my pick of teams to play, Steubenville is probably at the bottom of the list of preferred match ups,” he joked. “Steubenville, as we knew coming into the season and found out twice this year, is really good. They can score inside, score outside and they’re well-coached so we know it’s a big challenge.

“We just have to be tough. We knew going into the first meeting we had to play physical and they still out-physicaled us. I think we improved a little bit in the second meeting, but they still beat us on the boards and scored more in the paint than we did, so we know we’re going to have to play tough.”

The championship match up between the top two teams will also feature a clash between two of the top players in the OVAC. Big Red’s Nylah McShan and JM’s Rilee Storm were 1-2 in scoring in Class 5A in the latest statistics release from the conference.

Storm averages 21.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, while McShan averages a double-double with 19.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

The Big Red standout also adds 3.4 steals and 2.6 assists as she has been a well-rounded player this season.

As tempting as it is to key on her, Melko knows Big Red has other players that can hurt you in Phynyx Fleming (9.8 points, 5.7 rebounds), Lucy Saccoccia (10.7 points, 3.8 assists, 2 steals) and senior Bailee Beall (8.7 points).

Beall and Saccoccia are in the top 10 in the OVAC in 3-pointers made, as is Storm and Kaylee White (10.3 ppg) for JM.

“McShan is going to get a lot of our attention, but they’re a hard match up because it’s not just her,” Melko said. “We have to try to slow her down, we’re going to devote a lot of attention to her, but we have to understand at the same time that Fleming is also really good inside and they have multiple shooters on the outside that can hurt you, too.”

Big Red played in last year’s conference title game, falling to Morgantown. Four of the starting five for Big Red this year played in that game and have come back hungrier than ever to finish one spot better.

“It would mean a lot to these young ladies to see all of the hard work they’ve put in this season pay off with a win in that type of an atmosphere,” Forte said. “They are looking forward to it, they’re excited for the challenge.

“They come to practice ready to work and have fun along the way. They’re hungry, which is nice to see at this juncture of the season. They’re playing good basketball right now and willing to do whatever it takes to continue to have success.

“We take things one game at a time … but we talk about the regular season being practice for the tournament, and that’s the time of the year we’re at now. It’s matter now of using everything they’ve learned throughout the season, making whatever adjustments that need to be made and executing.”

For JM, the 10 a.m. start time and trip to the ECO Center in a tournament atmosphere is being treated as a reminder of another goal — the state tournament.

“We told them that playing at 10 a.m. is preparing for the state tournament,” Melko said. “The first game at the state tournament is 9:30 a.m. so we’re looking at playing early in the first game as a positive. We’ve got to learn to do that because we’re hoping to do it again.

“The atmosphere will be awesome. We’ve had great support all year from our fans and students and I’m sure Saturday will be no different. And I’m sure Steubenville will have a big crowd as well. Playing on a neutral floor in a tournament environment will be exciting.”