CHARLESTON — The Wheeling Central Maroon Knights have reached the climax of the high school basketball season — and they did it without much drama.

Playing Thursday inside the Charleston Coliseum, the top-seeded Maroon Knights punched their ticket to the WVSSAC Class AA girls basketball championship with an 83-49 state semifinals victory over No. 5 James Monroe, receiving 71 of their points from the trio of Kaitlyn Blake, Seneca Heller and Addie Payton.

Blake led all scorers with 28 points along with seven rebounds. She scored 20 in the second half.

“They did a great job on her in the first half defensively,” Wheeling Central head coach Roberta Olejasz said of James Monroe’s efforts against Blake. “I think she had eight points and she had to battle for every one of those buckets. When we started shooting outside, they had to cover us. Once we started hitting those shots- [Heller] was hitting from outside, Bella [Fitzsimmons] was hitting from outside- they had to go one-on-one with [Blake], and you can’t go one-on-one with her.”

Addie Payton was the prime suspect when it came to the Maroon Knights’ long-range attack, shooting 6-12 from deep as Wheeling Central made nine 3-pointers as a team, three more than James Monroe despite the Mavericks attempting five more 3’s than the Maroon.

The junior finished with 18 points. Her six 3-pointers tied the Class AA tournament record for 3’s in a game.

Seneca Heller finished with 25 points and seven assists. Two of Hellers’ seven baskets stood out- her first shot of the game opened up the scoring Thursday, an and-one layup that sent Heller to the floor and set up Central to open a 15-3 start to the game.

Wheeling Central led 26-9 at the end of the first, but in the second quarter, James Monroe had gotten the lead down to 10 after a Kendall Long pass led to a Mya Dunlap transition 3-pointer with under a minute to play. Yet the Knights were able to seize momentum once again through the efforts of Heller, the junior launching herself at the basket and drawing another and-one chance, which she converted with two seconds to play, sending Central into the locker rooms ahead 41-28.

“We were in what we call “scramble“- for her to get a pick and we roll Kaitlyn to the bucket,” Olejasz said. “She either takes it to the hole or drops it to Kaitlyn. She got straight to the bucket and we held our breath to see what that call was going to be- was that a charge or is it a block? They called the block and we were high-fiving on the bench.”

The energy from the big shot carried over into the third quarter, a 3-pointer barrage helping the Knights lead 67-39 going into the fourth quarter.

The pullaway third quarter was exactly what the Knights had in mind.

“I walked into the locker rooms, we [coaches] discussed in the hall, and the girls are saying ‘Third quarters win games!’ We’re like, yeah, that’s absolutely right,” Olejasz said. “They took it upon themselves to do that.”

Wheeling Central shot 46.6% from the field against James Monroe’s 34% shooting. A big discrepancy came at the foul line, with Central going 20-23 from the line, while James Monroe finished shooting 7-11.

Dunlap and Maggie Boroski each scored 14 to lead James Monroe. Boroski also had 10 rebounds.

“James Monroe, their trio upfront is probably one of the most athletic teams we’ve seen all year,” Olejasz said. “When we were breaking down tape, we thought we would have trouble with their athleticism upfront. We also thought our zone would bother them, and if we could defensive rebound and limit our turnovers we would have a chance. But for us to shoot that well tonight, that’s a major bonus for us.”

The stage is set now for No. 1 Wheeling Central to play No. 2 Charleston Catholic for the state championship at 10 a.m. Saturday. It will be the third matchup between the two teams. Wheeling Central took both of the last meetings, though each was decided by single-digits.

“It’s a grind every time,” Olejasz said of facing the Fighting Irish. “They’re a man-to-man defense, they have shooters on the perimeter, it’s going to be a battle all the way through. I said all year, Charleston Catholic’s No. 2 in the state. I said it every time I talked to the press, they’re one or two in the state. If we’re one, they’re two, if they’re one, we’re two. I think that was proven here in Charleston.”