Parkersburg South's Kenna Mace splits a double team from SPIRE Academy's Heidi Schultz (23) and Bella Boyd (1) during the Patriots' 62-50 victory Tuesday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — It was a clean sweep here Tuesday evening inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center for Parkersburg South as SPIRE Academy lost the girls contest 62-50 before the Patriots boys won for the second time in as many nights thanks to an 81-64 triumph.

The PSHS girls, who are ranked No. 2 in Class AAAA and improved to 10-2 with a game Thursday at Riverside, led 31-26 at halftime and used a 13-1 run early in the third to take control.

It was the first game for the Patriots since Jan. 22 when they completed a regular season sweep of rival Parkersburg.

“You’re always concerned. When we’ve been off that long before a couple of times we hadn’t come out and played well, but we did tonight,” admitted South head coach Ed Davis, who got double figure scoring efforts from Lindsey Logston (22), Quinn Bolyard (16) and Emilee Owens (14).

“They are a really good basketball team. They can shoot the ball. They can put it on the floor and get to the rim. We kind of saw that on film so them making a run didn’t surprise us, but I was really glad with how we responded to it.”

Parkersburg South's Taj Joyce, pictured here being defended by SPIRE Academy's Marcus Scipio, scored 14 points during the Patriots' 81-64 victory Tuesday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg South grabbed a 19-18 edge after one thanks to Logston’s buzzer-beating triple that came via an Owens assist. Owens attempted a floater that wouldn’t fall and managed to track down the rebound before going out of bounds and used a behind the back pass to get the ball to Logston, who just got it off in time before it swished in.

Liv Harness, who came off the SA bench to score a game-high 20 points, canned one of her five 3s to make it a 23-all affair with 3:36 left in the half. Although Harness hit again late in the period via an assist by Maeline Monet, who scored eight points, Owens answered from deep to give the Patriots a 31-26 intermission advantage.

Two foul shots and a 3 from Bolyard started a key 13-1 spurt to open the second half as PSHS took control. Logston, who tied teammate Tae Richards with a game-high three steals, had a trio of buckets in the run and Grace Dotson also converted a runner off the glass.

Kyannah Campbell finished with 11 points and six rebounds for SPIRE (6-4).

Owens grabbed eight caroms, Bolyard had seven while Dotson and Kenna Mace, who had six markers, grabbed a half dozen apiece.

Parkersburg South's Tae Richards, left, ties up SPIRE Academy's Kyannah Campbell during the Patriots' 62-50 victory Tuesday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Much like the first contest, the fourth-ranked Parkersburg South boys also used a big run — albeit in the second quarter to the tune of 16-1 — to take control of the nightcap.

Although SPIRE Academy (9-4) never led, the visitors from three hours North in Geneva, Ohio watched a 16-11 deficit after one turn into a 43-26 Patriot halftime advantage.

Harry Silvis tied SPIRE’s Joe Baldwin with a game-high 19 points. Baldwin, who added a pair of blocked shots and doubled-doubled by pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds, was joined in double figures by teammates Marcus Scipio (18), Aidan Lomesany (13) and Reed Colton (12).

Parkersburg South, which won Monday at Linsly, is currently without the services of guard Chase Offenberger as the Patriots improved to 12-3 with Riverside set to invade on Friday.

“He broke his thumb last Thursday. He got it caught on Harry’s jersey,” said Patriot boss Mike Fallon, who watched son Cam come off the bench to join Silvis with a quartet of 3s en route to a 16-point effort. “We’ll get him back probably the last week of the season. I think it will make us better down the road. I think it will help us because now some of them other guys have to be in rolls and I think that will help out a ton.

Parkersburg South's Cam Fallon drains a 3 for part of his 16 bench points despite having a hand in his face from SPIRE Academy's Reed Colton during the Patriots' 81-64 victory Tuesday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“It (back-to-back) was tough because last night we didn’t get back until 12. That’s one of the reasons we got out of the OVAC. Then they were out of school all day and I’m sure they stayed in bed until 11, 12 o’clock. We were pretty sloppy in that first quarter. I thought second quarter we came out and played well and third quarter played well. Then got sloppy there in the fourth, but proud of them. We’re getting there. Defensively we’re getting better and doing some things.”

Taj Joyce added 14 points, four assists and three steals while coming up a board shy of a double-double for the hosts, who also got seven markers from Logan Graham along with a game-high three blocks and seven caroms from Matthew Mullen.

SPIRE only trailed 20-14 with 6:32 left in the first half after Colton hit from beyond the arc, but the 16-1 run followed. Xavier St. Andry’s spinning lay-in got it started. After Silvis hit from downtown, Graham’s three-point play made it 28-14 and SPIRE called timeout. Fallon followed with a triple and a deuce, Drew Blough added a free throw and Silvis also had a steal and lay-in.

The visitors continued to fight and closed it to 54-41 midway through the third following a Baldwin three-point play, but Joyce knocked down a jumper and Fallon followed with consecutive trifectas to push the lead back out to 21. Blough’s putback with 1.5 left on the clock gave the Patriots a commanding 71-51 edge entering the fourth.

“I look forward to our kids off the bench,” added coach Fallon. “Our bench the last two nights has been huge. Those guys have come in – Cam, Drew, Bowen (Rader), Baron (Davis). Carter (Fluty) and those guys have given us big, big minutes. Not only minutes, but they are putting points up and rebounding stuff.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com