PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg South senior Devin Hefner, who was honored before Wednesday’s game inside the Rod Oldham Athletic Center as a McDonald’s All-American nominee, played a big role in helping the second-ranked Patriots blitz Huntington, 75-51. Hefner, who tallied a game-high 25 points all in the first half, poured in 16 of those markers in a pivotal second stanza as the Patriots went from holding a 17-16 lead after one to a commanding 43-24 edge at intermission. Huntington, which dropped to 6-15 and plays at Spring Valley tonight for fifth place in the Mountain State Athletic Conference, had nine first-half turnovers that led to 18 points for head coach Ed Davis’ Patriots. “We were trying to deny their little point guard (LaTahia Jackson) the ball and (assistant coach) Susie (Davis) about midway through the third quarter said let’s just back up and play halfcourt man and I think that was a much more effective call then to try and deny her the ball because she’s so darn quick,” said Ed Davis, who watched Makenna Winans go for 21 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Madison Slash, who tallied 16 points to go along with six rebounds and a game-high six blocked shots, scored the opening deuce of the affair. It was 6-1 Highlanders after Jackson had a steal and layup and Ravyn Goodson hit two foul shots for part of her 12-point showing. However, Winans scored inside, then hit a 3 and Hefner followed with a trifecta from the corner to give the Patriots (18-3) their first lead. Five made 3s in the second quarter by the hosts — three from Hefner and one each by Allie Taylor and Allyssa Wilson — put HHS in a 36-22 hole with 3:05 left in the half. Camryn Michallas’ hoop late in the half closed the Highlander deficit to 41-24, but Rylee Harner got the ball to teammate Nakia Bracy, who banked in a shot from the paint to give the hosts their 19-point bulge at the break. PSHS, which opened the second half with 10 straight points from Winans to push ahead 53-25, made 7 of 15 from downtown in the first half. Charity Anderson finished with 11 points for the Patriots, who received a game-high five assists from Kenzie Johnson. Wilson tallied eight points and had three steals while Taylor had six markers and a pair of blocks. Aside from her dozen counters, Jackson finished with a game-high five steals. Tia Wooding led HHS with seven boards. “They got one day (Thursday) off because the boys have senior night versus George Washington,” added the Patriots’ head coach. “We told them we’d come back in Friday and to enjoy this for a couple days. When we come back in Friday we got to start getting ready for next Friday.” If things go as planned during next Wednesday’s Class AAA, Region IV, Section 1 tournament opener with No. 3 seed Ripley playing at No. 2 seed Parkersburg, the Patriots will welcome in the rival Big Reds to the ROAC on Friday, Feb. 23 for the rubber match and the right to play host to a regional co-final. Earlier this season, PHS won the first game inside Memorial Fieldhouse, 55-52, but followed that up with a 63-45 loss at PSHS