“Super proud of the girls for just staying together,” Steubenville head coach Angelita Forte said. “They battled. Tri-Valley, they have a good program. We knew it was going to be a battle coming in. Last year they got the best of us. The girls were determined to come out and make sure that they battled, and we’re just grateful their hard work paid off and ended up with a win.”

Nylah McShan led Steubenville with 23 points while playing around a concerted defensive focus from the Scotties of Tri-Valley. Double, triple, even occasional quadruple teams came at McShan whenever she found herself with the ball inside the 3-point line. The senior knocked down a critical fourth-quarter 3-pointer and shot 8-11 from the foul line to reach her total.

With all the defensive attention, the onus fell on others on the Steubenville squad to hit shots around the perimeter- and Big Red delivered. Brynn Bowers and Lucy Saccoccia each made a 3-pointer Wednesday, while Bailee Beall hit three 3’s to finish with 10 points. Saccoccia scored nine.

“We’ve talked about it. Nylah has seen the double in the post, Phoenix [Fleming] has seen the double in the post, pretty much all season long. And, you know, those other girls, they work hard. They get extra shots up because they know that the ball is going to come back out.

And they were ready to knock down shots. Everybody has a job. I’m just super proud of them for stepping up and making sure that everybody played their role.

While either team made their runs back-and-forth Wednesday, the Big Red lead was stuck around 10 for most of the second and third quarters. After one quarter, Steubenville led 18-13 after McShan scored inside in the final seconds. At halftime, Big Red led 29-19, and while Steubenville extended their lead to as much as 16 in the third quarter– and at another point, Tri-Valley cut the deficit to as little as six– the lead evened back out to 10 entering the fourth period, 43-33.

A lightning-fast 7-0 run from Tri-Valley early in the fourth quarter brought the Scotties within three, 43-40 with 5:36 on the clock, and prompted a Big Red timeout.

With Tri-Valley charging, Steubenville battled back with a big corner 3 from Bowers, assisted by Fleming, and a big top-of-the-key 3 from McShan, assisted by Beall.

With under two minutes to play, Big Red had pushed the lead back up to around the all-familiar 10 point-mark, 52-43.

Tri-Valley’s Emma Smith, who finished with a team-high 17, scored with just over a minute of play left to bring the Scotties within five, 52-47, and after a Steubenville turnover, Tri-Valley had a chance to make it a three-point game at the foul line, but split the free throws to make it 52-48 with 26 seconds left.

McShan was fouled and made both her foul shots to boost the lead to six. Tri-Valley’s Maddie Garber hit a 3-pointer on the other end, but the Scotties had burned a lot of time, leaving just five seconds left on the clock. Beall split a pair of free throws to reach the game’s final total.

Steubenville, the top seed in the East, will face the top seed in the Southeast, Unioto (22-2), for the District Title. Tipoff will come inside Zanesville’s Winland Memorial Gymnasium at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

“The battle is still on,” Forte said. “We have to chip away at it one game at a time. We’ll go back, we’ll watch some film, and get the girls prepared and ready. And, you know, when Saturday comes on, we’ll step on the court and be ready to go to battle.”