Photo by Kim North Union Local’s Delaney Butler (30) guards Bellaire’s Tamya Morgan (11) as the Big Reds’ Jaelyn McShan sets a pick. The Jets’ Ameera Saunders (21) plays defense. Union Local won, 62-25, Monday night inside the ‘House of Champions.’

BELLAIRE — When you’re hot, you’re hot and when you’re not, you’re not.

Such was the case Monday night inside the ‘House of Champions’ as undefeated Union Local remained that way with a workmanlike, 62-25, dismantling of host Bellaire (8-5) in girls’ high school basketball action.

The Jets (11-0) led 13-6 after eight minutes but used a 22-2 second quarter scoring advantage to fly away to a 35-8 halftime margin and never looked back.

“I just told (assistant) Coach (Nick) Nardo that it might be the best all-around game we’ve played this season. Everyone contributed and our defense was an A, not an A+, but a solid A,” Union Local veteran head coach Lou “Scooter” Tolzda said. “This was the start of a big week for us, and I thought we played really well.”

Union Local visits Gnadenhutten on Wednesday to face Indian Valley before hosting St. Clairsville on Thursday for Senior Night.

The Jets then head to Monroe Central on Saturday afternoon.

“I liked the way we shared the ball,” Tolzda added as the Jets recorded 13 assists on 25 made field goals. Ameera Saunders, half of the ‘Twin Towers’ led the way with five assists as all five starters had at least one helper. “We really did a good job of passing the ball.

“Myah (Martin) did a good job of running the offense as the point guard,” Tolzda noted.

Union Local ripped off the first 19 points of the second quarter as its 1-2-2 fullcourt pressure defense had the Big Reds bewildered as they turned the ball over 12 times in the first half.

“Our defense is always going to be there,” Tolzda said. “We work a lot on our defense.”

Bellaire head coach John Farrier pointed to the 20 turnovers as the main cause for the lop-sided loss.

“We haven’t been doing a good job of taking care of the ball and that hurt us tonight,” he said. “Recently we haven’t been playing team defense. We’ve got one or two girls playing hard where we need to have five girls playing hard.

“We’re in a tough part of our schedule but we’re not competing like I would like us to,” Farrier added. “We’re playing good competition, but our defense isn’t there.” Hopefully we can figure it out by Thursday when Barnesville comes to town.”

Laken Vinskovich, the other half of Union Local’s 6-foot ‘Twin Towers’ scored 21 and pulled down five rebounds. Allie Kellaway and Delaney Butler evenly divided 20 points, while Saunders had eight markers and six boards as the Jets held a 21-12 advantage off the glass. Kellaway also had six boards. Aubree Hines paced Bellaire with 13 points. Kayla Edgar grabbed seven rebounds.

The victory gave Union Local a regular-season sweep of Bellaire.