TURNING UP THE HEAT … Bryan’s Piper Hanna pressures Bath guard Mara Davis as she brings the ball up the floor.
PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
DISTRICT SEMIFINAL … Averyann Fisher drives the baseline in the first half of their 36-28 win over Lima Bath in the Division IV district semifinals at Miller City High School. VIEW 84 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Nate Calvin
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
sports@thevillagereporter.com
MILLER CITY (February 24, 2026) – Bryan leaned on their defense in the Division IV district semifinals versus Lima Bath.
Despite shooting just 5-of-17 and committing 14 turnovers through the first three quarters, the Golden Bears trailed Bath, whom they lost to in December (43-33), by only six points entering the final frame.
Bryan dominated the fourth, including 7/10 at the charity stripe, as they outscored the Wildkittens 17-3, for a 36-28 win to advance to the district finals.
After triples from Alycen Stumbaugh and Izzy McDermott, Bath was able to jump out to an early 7-2 advantage in the first quarter.
Bryan closed the first with a 7-2 run of their own as Averyann Fisher went 2-of-4 at the line and Piper Hanna scored from in close and buried a three from the left wing for a 9-9 game after one quarter.
The defensive battle continued in the second, where the teams combined to go 3-of-19 from the floor in the quarter.
Bath would get the first five points on another McDermott triple and a steal and layup by Stumbaugh for a 14-9 lead. Bryan came back with the last four points of the quarter as Bath would not score again in the half.
Mylie Vollmer splashed a three-ball from the left wing at the 2:00 mark, the Bears’ first points of the quarter, and Amiyah Langham added a free throw to trim the Bath lead to 14-13 at halftime.
Bath opened the third with two buckets to push their lead to 18-13 before a Fisher free throw gave Bryan their first points of the quarter at the 4:03 mark.
The Bath lead grew to 23-16 after a drive to the hoop for a bucket by Mara Davis with 2:05 left in the quarter.
Josey Arnold would hit Bryan’s only field goal of the quarter, a triple from the right wing, and Stumbaugh ended the quarter with a layup as Bath took a 25-19 lead to the fourth.
The Bears started the final frame with an 8-0 run to take their first lead since the score was 2-1 in the opening quarter.
Arnold connected from long range on the left side, Fisher hit a pair at the line, and Hanna drained a three from the right corner at the 2:50 mark for a 27-25 lead.
Gwyn Foust tied the game with two free throws, but it was the duo of Arnold and Hanna to the rescue once again for the Bears.
Hanna scored on a drive and Arnold scored on an offensive rebound of her own miss to give Bryan a 31-27 lead.
Bryan would then put the game on ice at the free throw line by going 5-of-8 in the final 32 seconds, led by Langham’s 4-of-4 effort after back-to-back intentional fouls by the Wildkittens.
In the fourth, Bath would go 0-of-7 from the field to finish the night 10-of-44 for 23 percent and 5-of-15 at the line for 33 percent. Bath was just 3-of-19 for 16 percent from three-point range.
Stumbaugh led the scoring for the Wildkittens (13-11) with seven points, while McDermott and Davis each had six.
For Bryan (16-9), they finished 9-of-27 for 33 percent from the floor, including 5-of-14 from beyond the arc and ended with a 29-21 advantage on the boards for the night, holding a 16-8 edge in the second half.
Hanna had a game-high 12 points with Arnold and Fisher adding eight apiece. Hanna and Arnold combined for 11 of Bryan’s 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Bryan will now face Bellevue (25-0), the defending Division IV state champions, in the Division IV district finals on Saturday in Fostoria at 3 p.m.
BRYAN (36) – Langham 5; Miller 0; Hanna 12; Fisher 8; Kidston 0; Arnold 8; Vollmer 3; Hepker 0; Totals: 4-5-13 – 36
BATH (28) – Jackson 2; Davis 6; Stumbaugh 7; Mason 2; Foust 2; Rex 1; McDermott 6; Harnishfeger 2; Jenkins 0; Totals: 7-3-5 – 28
BHS 9 4 6 17 – 36
BATH 9 5 11 3 – 28