Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Giana Chirpas (3) drives baseline against Steubenville’s Phynyx Fleming (11) looks on. Chirpas had 11 points as the Purple Riders held off Big Red, 47-40, Monday night inside Tolbert Gymnasium high stop the Purple City.

MARTINS FERRY — It wasn’t a Rembrandt nor a Picasso, but Martins Ferry (2-0) will take it.

The Purple Riders built a huge lead in the early stages of the third quarter only to watch it slowly slip away Monday night in a 47-40 victory over visiting Steubenville inside a toasty Tolbert Gymnasium in girls’ high school basketball.

Martins Ferry led 18-12 after one quarter before stretching its margin to 29-20 at the half. The lead ballooned to 19 with 2-minutes, 22-seconds left in the third quarter, but Big Red (1-1) cut the deficit to five, 43-37, with just under a minute remaining to play.

Lyndsey Best, who recorded a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds, connected on two free throws with 10.8 showing to seal the deal.

“It was a win and we’ll take them any way we can get them,” Martins Ferry assistant coach Brian Best said. “We had too many turnovers down the stretch and we missed too many easy shots in the paint, but we knuckled down in the last couple of minutes to get the win.”

Best was in charge as head coach Dave Reasbeck served the second game of his two-game suspension that dated back to the end of last season.

Lindsey Best was red-hot from the start, scoring half of her total in the first quarter. She had 18 at the half, but couldn’t get the ball to drop in the second half.

Steubenville was its own worst enemy as it went scoreless for 5:29 from its last basket of the first quarter to its first point of the second quarter, that coming on the back-end of a two-shot foul by Nylah McShan.

Big Red then went nearly the entire third quarter without putting a point on the scoreboard as the Purple Riders rattled off 10 points to start the quarter. Cianna Scurry ended the 7:51 drought with 1:20 left in the quarter. They scored their final point of the first half with 1:11 showing.

“We need to put some offensive sets together and be a little more disciplined offensively to value each possession,” Steubenville head coach Angelita Forte said. It’s still early in the season, but this was a really good test for us. We’ve got some young girls on the floor that are adjusting to the speed of the game, so it’s game-by-game. We’ve got to get better and execute our offense better.”

“I thought our 1-2-2 pressure defense did a great job,” Coach Best said. “The girls made several steals and limited Big Red to some tough shots and made them earn it. We played hard and I can’t fault their effort.”

The hosts had a 15-point lead, 39-24, after three quarters but went to four corners to start the fourth quarter which nearly cost them.

“We were getting to the basket, which is what we wanted to do, but we just couldn’t get the ball to fall,” Coach Best added.

Bailee Beall scored eight of her team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter as she knocked down back-to-back treys. She finished with half of Big Red’s eight triples.

Neither team shot the ball well as Steubenville hit on 14 of 45 shots (32 percent) and Martins Ferry hit on just 15 of 48 (32 percent). Big Red was 8-for 26 from beyond the bonus arc, while the Purple Riders were a mere 3-of-11.

Martins Ferry owned a 41-36 advantage off the glass as Chirpas and Savannah Koller each had eight in support of Best. Phoenix Fleming grabbed 10 for Steubenville.

Chirpas added 11 points.

McShan went down midway through the third quarter, hitting the back of her head on the floor. She did not return to action.

“I’ll check with our trainer,” Forte said. “I think he might have put her in concussion protocol.”

The teams combined for 37 turnovers, with Steubenville charting 21 of those.

Martins Ferry travels to Wheeling Central on Tuesday, Dec. 3.