T-L Photo/SETH STASKEY UNION LOCAL senior Emily Kellaway drives to the basket as St. Clairsville’s Lacy Tuttle during the second half of Monday’s game on John Jenkins Court at St. Clairsville High School. The Jets cruised to their seventh straight victory.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — It’s gotten to the point where Union Local head coach Scooter Tolzda goes into each game simply expecting his senior duo of Reagan Vinskovich and Torre Kildow to face some sort of “junk defense.”

Monday’s game on John Jenkins Court inside St. Clairsville High School was no different as the Red Devils came out in a triangle-and-two. Unfazed, the Jets simply stuck with their offensive game plan.

It clearly worked as the Jets picked up another decisive victory, 68-33, against the Red Devils (2-4).

“We knew we were going to get junk defenses, so we’ve kind of prepared for it,” Tolzda said. “It seems like whoever you ask about playing against those types of defenses has a different idea and wants to do a million different things. The late Perry Reese (former head boys coach at Hiland) once told me to ‘run your normal offense’ and oftentimes it works best.”

That advice paid dividends for the Jets (7-0). They simply did what they wanted to do each time out. Establish Vinskovich on the interior.

Playing physically, Vinskovich was a handful against the Red Devils. She scored the first seven Jets points of the game and turned in one of her most impressive double-doubles of her illustrious career with 24 points and 21 boards.

Tolzda was quite impressed with the effort Vinskovich put forth.

“I don’t care what anyone says, Reagan is getting better and better and turning into a player that’s gong to help West Liberty,” Tolzda said. “We have several kids who are continuing to improve. I think we’re taking steps in the right direction. Torre got her points, but she didn’t really get comfortable or find a rhythm after the first quarter. Plus, we knew St. Clairsville would make some shots because they’re playing on the friendliest home court in the valley. I’ve never seen a St. Clairsville team — male or female — not shoot well on their home court.”

While the Red Devils put up more points than any of the other Buckeye 8 South schools, it wasn’t nearly enough.

“I thought the defense we tried worked some in spurts, but they’re just really good,” St. Clairsville head coach Stacey Agnew said. “We have trouble scoring against a lot of teams, but scoring against them is even tougher because of their size and length.”

As is usually the case for the Jets, it wasn’t just Vinskovich that got going early. Her running mate, Kildow, scorched the nets for 13 of her 19 in the opening quarter, including a half-court buzzer beater to end the period and give the Jets a 22-12 lead.

Union Local kept pouring it on in the second quarter. With Vinskovich leading the way, the Jets outscored St. C., 23-6 in the second.

The game reached the OHSAA’s mercy rule in the middle of the third quarter and never reverted back to regular timing rules.

While Vinskovich and Kildow did what they did, sophomore Ella Pietranton was the third-leading scorer with eight points. Freshman Laken Vinskovich provided a spark off the bench with seven points and eight rebounds.

St. Clairsville, meanwhile, was led by senior Megan Malin’s 10. Classmate Lacy Tuttle added nine.

All told, the Jets held a commanding, 47-16 edge on the boards. Union Local was charted for six turnovers, which was four fewer than the hosts.

The Jets are off for a week before hosting Cameron and Fort Frye next week to complete the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule. The Red Devils, meanwhile, are back in action Thursday at Brooke.