Photo by Nick Henthorn Harrison Central’s Shayla Nameth goes in for a layup Thursday during the Huskies’ road win over the St. Clairsville Red Devils. Nameth scored 12 points for Harrison Central.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Thursday on John Jenkins Court, the Harrison Central Huskies were eager to get back in the win column, coming into their road game vs. St. Clairsville after an extended winter weather layoff, and hoping to shake off a four-game skid.

The Huskies are back on the right track after a 59-39 road victory over the Red Devils, a game that provided a big boost to Chace Smith’s squad.

“It’s a young team and we have some injuries, there’s no guarantees at all,” Smith said after Thursday’s outing. “I think everybody in the Valley’s been off for several days, so we had one practice yesterday, and we wanted to come in here, get the rust off and get back on the winning track. We had a gauntlet there of Creek twice, and [Union Local] and Martins Ferry and Edison. We had a run there of some tough teams, but I’m proud of how we handled everything through that and came out today ready to play and ready to get back in the win column.”

The rust came off quickly for the Huskies, who leapt out to a big lead in the first quarter, leading 17-2 after the opening period.

The rest of the game was played much closer, Harrison Central winning the second, third and fourth quarters 42-37, but the rough start was too much for Stacey Agnew’s Red Devils.

“Once we went into man, it was pretty even,” Agnew said. “We can’t get in a hole like that. We don’t score consistently enough to get in a hole like that. We had good shots that first quarter, we just didn’t hit them. They kept the pressure on, and we knew we’d get tired, we were playing five, basically, and they were playing 10. They kind of wore us down, but we played hard and they didn’t give up. That’s all we can ask, really.”

The Huskies’ Bailey Smith launched a longball just inside the halfcourt line right before the first quarter buzzer, and her heave found the bottom of the bucket. It was the second 3-pointer of the period for Smith.

St. Clairsville bit back early in the second quarter, with Anna Kain nailing 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring the Red Devils within 13, 23-10, with five minutes ’till halftime, and 13 was the Husky lead when the game reached its intermission, 31-18.

Kain ended with 12 points, while the Red Devils were led in scoring by Elizabeth Morgan’s 15. Morgan also grabbed five rebounds and dished five assists. The Huskies were denying Kain the ball at all times up and down the court.

“That’s what we wanted to do,” Smith said of his team’s hot start. “We wanted to come out with intensity and really set the tone early on and we did that. Now [St. Clairsville] responded well and had a couple of big shots from Kain, which is what she does. That’s why we face guarded her. She gets an inch of space and she can let it fly. If she gets hot then you’re in trouble.

“That was the goal a hundred percent. We’ve played her before. She’s hurt us before and so we didn’t want to let her get hot and get hers.”

Gracie Gray led St. Clairsville with eight rebounds.

Harrison Central’s Ella Smith led the Huskies with 16 points, while Shayla Nameth scored 12 and nabbed six steals. Smith shouted out the two freshmen, and spread the credit around.

“[Mikayla] Pelegreen did a tremendous job guarding Kain all night,” Smith continued. “She answered a call, she’s done that before. She’s a lockdown defender. It’s exhausting to have to face guard somebody and put all that effort into it. She did that and she got 10 points so she did a great job.”

Pelegreen had four steals.

“We had some girls that got in there and really just know their role and did it well and then and got after it for us,” Smith said.

Harrison Central out-rebounded St. Clairsville 38-29, and the Huskies grabbed 18 offensive rebounds. Emily Cope led the charge with 13 rebounds, eight offensive.

Cope also had three assists and six points.

“We’ve been preaching about not just watching,” Smith said. “We have a lot of young girls who are still getting in the habit of finding a body and bumping and releasing and getting a rebound. So we were working on not just watching, which we still have a habit of doing every now and again, but that was an emphasis coming in as well, crashing the boards, finding the body, getting some fundamentals and getting back to that overall.”

Harrison Central (8-11) next plays Barnesville, hitting the road on Feb. 2. St. Clairsville (6-13) hosts Linsly that same day.