North Central’s Lauren Balser fires a triple in the second half of Wednesday’s sectional semifinal at Hilltop. (PHOTOS BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
WEST UNITY, OH-The Division IV sectional semifinal at Hilltop High School did not start well for No. 8 seed North Central as they fell behind early 8-0.
The Lady Eagles would adjust to No. 4 Hilltop’s multiple defenses to draw within four points at halftime and then outscored the Cadets 21-8 in the second half to earn a 32-23 victory.
Hilltop started fast with Leanna Baker getting two field goals as Hilltop jumped to an 8-0 lead.
Hilltop’s multiple first quarter defenses (2-3 zone, man to man, half court zone trap) caused issues for North Central, who did not get their first points of the game until a Lauren Balser triple with less than a minute remaining in the opening quarter.
The Eagles were able to get a bucket from Madison Brown to end the quarter to trail just 8-5 as six turnovers by Hilltop helped North Central stay within striking distance.
The second quarter started with another two points from Baker but Kendal Bonney answered with an offensive rebound putback and Isabelle Burnett buried a trey for the Eagles to tie the game 10-10.
Hilltop was able to close out the first half with a 5-1 run as Jayma Bailey hit a three ball and Sara Barnum was 2/2 at the line to give Hilltop a 15-11 lead at halftime.
A Leanna Baker field goal opened the third quarter before North Central’s Madison Brown hit a shot from deep and then had a steal and layup to cut the Hilltop advantage to 17-16.
With Hilltop holding a 19-16 lead after a bucket from Kodi Brenner, the Eagles went on a 5-0 run as Balser hit another triple and Burnett was 2/2 at the foul line to give the Eagles their first lead at 21-19.
Baker went 2/2 at the line to tie the game at 21-21 in the early moments of the fourth quarter before North Central began to pull away. A Bonney field goal started an 11-2 scoring spurt by the Eagles to close out the game.
Brown would go 6/6 and Balser was 3/4 at the charity stripe as the Eagles were 9/10 at line in the fourth and 12/14 in the game.
While the Eagles were putting the game away at the foul line, Hilltop (13-7) went cold shooting as they were 6/36 (16%) from the floor on the night including 2/24 in the second half and 0/11 in the final quarter.
The Eagles were only 8/30 (26%) shooting but four of their field goals were from deep while Hilltop was only 1/11 from long range.
Brown registered a game-high 14 points for North Central and Leanna Baker tallied 10 for Hilltop.
Next up for North Central (10-10) is a trip to sixth seeded Hicksville (9-13) on Saturday night for the sectional finals.
The Eagles and Hicksville met just a few days ago on February 9th, a game won by North Central 43-26.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
NC 5 6 10 11 32
Hilltop 8 7 4 4 23
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com