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Top-seeded Beallsville cruises to 1A title game

T-L Photo/RICK THORP Beallsville’s ashlie Louden (3) drives against Hundred’s Kayele Davis (14) during Monday night’s OVAC Class1A semifinal in Beallsville.

BEALLSVILLE — Beallsville wasted little time Monday night in showing its desire to repeat as OVAC Class 1A girls’ basketball champs.

The Blue Devils jumped out to an 11-0 lead and cruised from there in routing Hundred, 66-28, in one semifinal of this season’s Wheeling Hospital event inside Beallsville High School.

Ashlie Louden poured in a game-high 31 points for Beallsville, which will face Cameron at 2 Saturday afternoon at Ohio University Eastern in a rematch of last year’s title tilt. The Dragons downed Madonna, 48-36, inside Dragon Indoor Stadium, also Monday.

“It’s a goal every year for us,” Blue Devils head coach Tori Jarrett said of reaching the championship contest. “We’re happy to be there.”

Ashley Howell added 15 points for top-seeded Beallsville (18-3), which flexed its muscles inside and out against the Hornets (8-9), making their first OVAC Tournament appearance.

Despite having four starters back from last season, Hundred was overwhelmed from the start by the Blue Devils’ heady play in all phases, especially on the defensive end. After building a 13-point lead after the first quarter, Beallsville blanked the Hornets in the second in stretching its advantage to 30 — 35-5 — by halftime. Rachel Snedden paced Hundred with 13 points.

“We had a gameplan and we came out and stuck to it,” Jarrett explained. “There’s some things we still need to work on.

“We tried to work on a little bit different defense in the second half. Most people that have watched us know we haven’t played a 2-3 often, but it’s something we need to work on, so we took the time to work on it now.”

Jarrett credited her players for staying mentally involved in the game, as well as for getting everyone involved. While Howell and Louden shared most of the workload pointwise, Beallsville’s other five players touched the ball plenty of times.

“They all work really hard,” she said. “Having just seven people is not easy. It’s a credit to all of them because all of them work hard and play hard.”

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