Triad is building its girls basketball season on three C’s: committee, chemistry and confidence. All worked cohesively in a decisive third quarter Thursday night at Catholic Central.

Scoring by committee has served the Cardinals well, and it was senior guard Dayna Ober’s turn with 23 points and four 3-pointers in a 65-43 Ohio Heritage Conference victory.

Ober made three 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the third when the Cardinals (14-4, 9-2) turned a five-point halftime lead over the Irish (4-15, 2-10) into a 43-29 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t hesitate,” Ober said of the third quarter. “The first quarter there was a lot of hesitation with our shots. We just needed to go out there and be confident and pull ahead.”

Faith Orecchio, a senior, matched her scoring average with 14. Ober, fellow senior Anna McKenzie and sophomores Nicole Simonelli and Jenna Welty average between eight and nine points a game. Against Central, McKenzie had 11 and Simonelli 10.

Those five have picked up the slack left by the departure of Kelsey Funderburgh, now playing at Morehead State, and Rebecca Levings, who is playing at Columbus State. Coach Jason Malone knew developing chemistry with a new-look team would be important, so he emphasized offseason work, including a team camp.

“I’m really tickled with how these girls have embraced it,” Malone said. “They love Kelsey and they love Rebecca and those girls are going to be remembered in our program for a long time, but these seniors are leaving their mark this year.”

Finding a way to do it for four quarters is what Ober is looking for to add a fourth C for complete. The Cardinals struggled against Central’s zone defense in the first half.

“We just need to start out confident and get going and finish,” Ober said. “Have four good quarters, not just one good quarter and three bad ones. I think we can do it – we need to do it.”

Three of the Cardinals’ final four games are against teams they have lost to, including league leaders Greeneview and Mechanicsburg. Since those early season games, Malone said the Cardinals are more confident in playing at a faster pace.

“We’re going to find out just how good we are,” he said.

Central second-year coach Hannah Scherger is also feeling better about her team, which had won three of four. The loss was to Mechanicsburg, but her young team played well throughout that game. Scherger hopes the second-half disappointment against Triad doesn’t get her team down.

“Of course they want the win, but they’ll take the loss if they feel like they are making a statement, or gaining the respect of their opponent or gaining the respect of their fans,” Scherger said. “So I think tonight is particularly devastating because I think they were anticipating that they could keep riding this train.”