COAL GROVE — The wait was worth it.

Snow forced the postponement of Thursday’s game, so the Rock Hill Redwomen played the Coal Grove Lady Hornets on Saturday.

Coal Grove was in need of a win in order to claim the Ohio Valley Conference championship outright after sharing the title with South Point last season.

The Lady Hornets now stand alone.

Coal Grove beat Rock Hill 56-45 to win the title outright over South Point by one game.

“We set that as a goal early in the year,” Lady Hornets coach Nick Miller said. “We lose our first league game and we were behind the eight-ball from the start. But the girls didn’t want to lose the league and they fought hard every game. We had some close games, but we were able to come out ahead.”

Miller gave some of the credit for the title to seniors Samantha Zornes, Tiffany Wallace, Chelsea Markins and Samantha Hall.

“I have to congratulate all our girls. They’ve worked hard and earned it,” Miller said. “All our senior girls did a great job. The high school won two games the year before they arrived. They’ve won 56 games and two league championships during their four years.”

Not only did the Lady Hornets win the OVC, but

Hall eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career.

Markins, who scored her 1,000th point last season, went over the 1,500-point mark. She scored 32 points to give her an overall total of 1,513.

“Their defense was geared to stop Hall and Chelsea realized she had to take charge and she did,” Miller said.

Markins had 5 straight points and then Hall scored for her 1000th point as Coal Grove jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Rock Hill battled back to trail just 8-7.

Markins finished with 8 points in the second quarter and Jordyn Cox hit 5 of 6 from the line as Coal Grove began to build on its lead.

Bobbi Harper scored a 3-pointer and another basket in the closing seconds to get Rock Hill within 25-19 at the break.

But Markins hit four 3-pointers including a 40-footer at the buzzer as Coal Grove pulled away to a 46-33 lead. Harper had two more treys in the quarter.

Rock Hill7121412=45

Coal Grove8172110=56

ROCK HILL (8-11, 4-5): Brooke Long 0 3 3-4 12, Anna Bridges 4 0 0-0 8, Elisha Daniels 0 0 1-2 1, Brooke Skinner 0 0 0-0 0, Amy Layne 0 0 2-2 2, Sarah Hartwig 0 0 0-0 0, Samantha Harris 1 0 0-0 2, Bobbi Harper 3 3 0-2 15, Kayla Skaggs 1 0 0-0 2, Leah Terry 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 16-45

6-10

45. 3-point goals: 3-20. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 5-14=19 (Bridges 8, Harper 5). Assists: 8. Steals: 7. Turnovers: 12.

COAL GROVE (16-4, 9-1): Tiffany Wallace 0 0 0-0 0, Abby Nance 0 0 0-0 0, Kelli Grove 0 0 0-1 0, Samantha Zornes 1 0 0-0 2, Ashley Thacker 0 0 0-0 0, Keesha Wyatt 0 0 0-0 0. Brittany Harrison 3 0 0-0 6, Danielle Carpenter 0 0 0-0 0, Jordyn Cox 2 0 6-8 10, Chelsea Delong 0 0 0-0 0, Chelsea Markins 5 5 7-8 32, Samantha Hall 3 0 0-0 6. Totals: 19-39

13-17

56. 3-point goals: 5-14. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-18=27 (Harrison 8, Hall 6). Assists: 10 (Cox 3, Zornes 3). Steals: 7 (Markins 4). Turnovers: 15. Blocked shots: 4 (Hall 3, Carpenter 1).