Staff photo / Preston Byers Western Reserve’s Kylee Ramsey drives during Monday’s win vs. McDonald in Berlin Center.

BERLIN CENTER — Both sets of Blue Devils seemed content to play at a blistering pace in the first quarter of Monday’s Western Reserve-McDonald league game. But come the second quarter, it became clear that only Reserve could finish what it started.

After an opening period in which the teams scored 37 total points and were separated by only three, Western Reserve blitzed McDonald, outscoring its Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) rival 27-5 to pull away before halftime of a 72-43 home win.

Although the final score did not indicate it, McDonald, not Western Reserve, started Monday’s game quickly. The visiting Blue Devils made a pair of three-pointers in the first 45 seconds and got off to an 8-2 run before Reserve settled into a groove. When that happened, though, it resulted in eight unanswered points from four different players as part of a 14-2 run in the middle of the quarter that permanently tilted the game in Reserve’s favor.

“McDonald is always one of those teams you got to come out and be ready for. … I don’t think it was how we came out necessarily, but it was how they came out. They came out and punched us in the mouth there and were up 6-0 before we knew what hit us. Maybe a little bit of a wake-up call,” Reserve head coach Steve Miller said.

Taking a 20-17 lead into the second period, Reserve dominated the action from get-go, as Kylee Ramsey scored six of her 14 second-quarter points within the first two minutes, helping Reserve to a 10-0 run.

While a free throw and field goal by Emme Matthews and the returning Juliana Krumpak, respectively, broke the string of Reserve points, the home team continued its onslaught thereafter, scoring 17 unanswered points before McDonald’s Addison Grewell made a layup in the final moments of the half to make it a 47-22 game going into the break.

“They just hit shots,” McDonald head coach Tyler Kilbourne said of the second quarter. “That team is special. I think that’s one of the best teams in the area, hands down. Steve’s a great coach, he always has them ready. And we’ve been a little stagnant offensively, but the first quarter was great and we’re a young team; we have five guards that are freshmen or sophomores, so we just got to them ready and progress throughout the year.”

McDonald could not manage to erase the halftime deficit Monday, although Kilbourne’s squad certainly rebounded from the second-quarter fiasco.

After being outscored 45-14 after the game-opening run, McDonald edged out Reserve 15-13 in the third quarter before Reserve pulled away again in the fourth.

“I just told them to keep fighting,” Kilbourne said of his halftime message. “I’m proud of the way we played tonight. It was a 30-point loss, but the energy was there — the energy in the first quarter was great, the energy in the second half was pretty solid, too. You just play really good teams sometimes.”

Ramsey led all scorers with 24 points, and she was joined in double figures by teammates Chloeigh Endsley and Quincy Miller, the latter of whom had 17 points and four triples. Krumpak and Claire O’Leary had 12 and 11 points, respectively, for McDonald.

With the loss, McDonald dropped to 1-2 on the season and in MVAC play. Its next game is back at home vs. Waterloo on Friday.

As for Western Reserve, the win continued a perfect start to the season; the Blue Devils are now 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the league, having scored at least 54 points and won by no fewer than 18 points in each game.

However, Steve Miller sees things that can certainly be improved.

“We did what we do,” Miller said. “We’re pretty fast, we’re getting out in transition, so I was happy with the way we ran — for the most part, we ran for 32 minutes. So I’m happy with that.

“Defensively, I thought we had some breakdowns. We’re still working on it a little bit. I’m not real pleased overall with where our defense is right now between playing a couple different defenses. We’re still trying to figure out if we want to play full court or half court with this group.”

Reserve visits Lowellville on Thursday.