Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Savanah Koller (5) defends Wheeling Park’s Brielle Wells (4) during second-half action Monday night inside Tolbert Gymnasium. The Purple Riders defeated the Patriots, 48-33. Looking on is Martins Ferry assistant coach Ricky Douglas.

MARTINS FERRY — It was Senior Night inside Tolbert Gymnasium Monday night, and Martins Ferry sent its pair — Makayla Cole and Charlee Roe — out with a victory on the home boards in girls’ basketball action.

After a sluggish first half in which they led 22-17, the host Purple Riders (16-5) broke the game wide open in the third, outscoring the Patriots (2-16) by a 18-9 margin to take control.

“I’m pleased with the way we played. We’re 16-5, but I’m not sure we’re as good as our record, and Wheeling Park is a lot better than a two-win team. They play every big dog in the Ohio Valley,” veteran Martins Ferry head coach Dave Reasbeck said. “I thought we played really strong in the third quarter. We just need to extend that stretch where we play well a little longer.

“We’re not always going to play great and look pretty, that’s not what we do,” Reasbeck added. “But we are going to play harder, hustle and be ahead at the end of the game.”

Martins Ferry stretched its halftime lead with a 7-2 run to start the third quarter as Giana Chirpas scored four points around a trey from Cole to make it 29-20. After a free throw by the Patriots, the Purple Riders reeled off nine straight points to take command at 38-21. Maddie Lucas jump-started the spree with a trey from the right wing. Following a basket by Chirpas, Lucas grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball off the glass as the margin grew to 36-21. Koller’s two free throws capped the surge.

Wheeling Park charted eight of its 23 turnovers in the fateful third quarter, something that head coach Ryan Young is seeing way too often.

“Our kryptonite continues to be turning the basketball over and our shooting percentage is not what it needs to be,” he said as his team tickled the twine just 10 times on 45 attempts. “The kids played hard … the effort was there, but at some point, if you don’t start taking care of the basketball, and when you struggle shooting the basketball, you have to come up with other ways to score.”

Chirpas led all scorers in the game with 17 points. Lucas added nine and Koller eight. Chirpas completed her double-double with a dozen rebounds as Martins Ferry held a 35-27 advantage off the glass. Koller and Cole had six boards each.

Karringtyn Miller was Wheeling park’s lone double-digit scorer with 10. Brielle Wells added eight points and nine rebounds, while Italy Schroeder had seven points.

Martins Ferry, which is still playing without injured Alivia Reese, finished with 20 turnovers.

The Purple Riders travel to Monroe Central on Thursday for a makeup game, while the Patriots head to the eastern panhandle to meet Musselman on Friday.