ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The path to get there may have been a bit different than the past two years, but the result was the same for Indian Creek at OVAC time – hoisting the trophy.

The Redskins, who have found their groove in the second half the season and got hot just in time to get in the tournament field and upset the top seed on the road in the semis, made it three-straight OVAC Class 4A titles with a 65-46 victory over Oak Glen at the ECO Center Saturday morning.

The win is Creek’s eighth victory in its last 10 games after a 5-game losing streak before the Christmas break. It’s the second time in three years they defeated the Golden Bears in the conference final.

“This one is special, they’re all special, but this one, with all the adversity and injuries we’ve been through this year, I’m really proud of this team,” Indian Creek head coach Steve Eft said. “One-through-12 on this roster contributed today in one way or another. They worked hard to get here and I’m really proud of them and their effort.

“We have really came together. We’ve had a challenging schedule, we lost five in a row at one point and went through adversity, but we never lost focus on what the goal is, which was to get here and win this again and make a run in the OHSAA tournament, and we’re right where we want to be.”

Creek (13-8) came out flying and scored the first eight points, opening the game on a 16-2 run and never looked back. After leading 24-9 after one, the Redskins went on a 8-0 run early in the second to push the lead to 21, then closed the half on a 10-2 run, making the advantage 26 at the break.

“They were fired up and ready to go, they had been here twice before and won it twice so there weren’t any jitters,” Eft said. “Our girls were focused and that’s how we’ve been playing for a last few weeks. We told them in the locker room, ‘Nothing changes, we’ve been playing tournament intensity basketball for a few weeks now and we need to continue to do that,’ and I thought we did that.”

The Golden Bears (11-7) changed up their defense and played a much better second half, out-scoring Creek in both the third and fourth quarters, but only cut the deficit down to 17.

“That was probably the worst half of basketball we’ve played all season, and that wasn’t all us, Indian Creek is a really good team and they were giving us trouble,” Oak Glen head coach Ryan Wells said. “We played much better in the second half, we switched to a 2-1-2 and started making our shots, but you can’t get in a big hole like that against a good team like Indian Creek.

“Indian Creek is a very good team, regardless of what the seeding was they’re the best team in the class and have won it the last two years. We knew it was going to be tough.”

The Redskins had a balanced scoring attack up and down the line up with four players in double digits, led by game MVP McKenna Scott with 18 points, three assists and two rebounds. It is her thrird tournament MVP award.

“She’s a great player and just a joy to coach,” Eft said. “She’s been a great leader for us this year.”

Gracie Klinesmith netted 16 points, hitting a pair of 3s, while Riley Sadler tallied 13 and Camryn Ketron 10. Kaydence Walker finished with eight, a bucket short of putting Creek’s whole starting five in double figures.

Creek out-shot the Bears 59.1 percent to 37.2 percent from the field, had a 28-8 advantage in the paint and led by as many as 30 in the third quarter.

“We had four girls in double figures and Kaydence wasn’t even one of them and she’s come on strong as a scorer for us, all of these girls stepped up their game,” Eft said. “It was a complete team effort.”

For Oak Glen, Mikalyn Balch had 10 points, while Kennsignton McConnachie, Ella Stewart and Keira Vick each tallied six.