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Easy part over for top-seeded Warriors

West Branch’s Kayla Hovorka drives against Hubbard in a Div. II sectional final on Thursday. (Salem News/Chris Rambo)

BELOIT–For a West Branch program accustomed to playing deep into the tournament, getting bounced in a sectional final last season was tough for everyone to accept.

“Going back to districts was a goal of this team, last year we had a bad taste in our mouth,” West Branch coach Walt DeShields said. “That early loss in the sectional final really motivated this team all offseason to get back where they were accustomed to.”

The top-seeded Warriors (ranked fifth in the Division II state poll) earned their way back to the district round by steadily wearing down 12th-seeded Hubbard 63-28 in a Div. II sectional final Thursday at West Branch High School.

West Branch (22-2) wins its 20th straight game and advances to take on fourth-seeded Struthers (17-6) in Div. II district semifinal action at 6 p.m. Monday at Austintown Fitch High School.

“After getting knocked out right away last season, we were all really motivated to get back up to (Austintown) Fitch this season,” West Branch senior guard Brenna Rito said. “Everyone’s excited for the opportunity next week.”

The underdog Eagles (4-19) came out with a scrappy effort and hung within a few points in the first quarter.

From there, the Warriors’ defense grabbed control of the game by closing off the driving lanes that Hubbard exploited in the early going. West Branch outscored the Eagles 16-5 in the second quarter to open up a 30-15 halftime lead.

“We knew Hubbard had some driving ability and they hurt us by attacking the basket,” DeShields said. “We weren’t in good defensive help position, but we adjusted that in the second quarter.”

“We rely on each other a lot out there and we started communicating better after the first quarter,” Rito said.

The Warriors defense kept up the intensity in the third quarter, while Rito put the game away at the offensive end. In the span of a little over a minute, she knocked down two threes and found Grace Heath for a two-on-one fastbreak bucket after coming up with a steal. The spurt put West Branch up 40-19 with 1:47 left in the third.

Rito nailed a total of five threes to lead the Warriors with 18 points. Forward Natalie Zuchowski added 14 points, while Kayla Hovorka had nine points and seven rebounds. Hubbard was led by guard Marissa Grande with eight points.

“We missed some early shots we normally make, part of that is probably tournament nerves,” DeShields said. “Once we settled in, we got a lot more consistent. Brenna really stepped up with her outside shooting. There were a few times where they didn’t play the ball-screen quite right and she read it correctly and knocked down some threes to put the game away.”

With the first stage of their tournament, journey behind them, the Warriors know the road is about to get a lot tougher.

“Struthers shoots it well, they’re going to be a tough opponent,” DeShields said. “John Grandy does a great job with that program. At this point, it’s anybodys game, but I really like this group right now. They’re really hungry to get up there and prove themselves.”

Game notes

¯Second-seeded Howland and fifth-seeded Ravenna Southeast will battle in the other district semifinal at 7:45 p.m. Monday. Southeast upset third-seeded Poland 72-71 Thursday, while Howland took care of eighth-seeded Salem 51-37. Struthers punched its ticket to the district by beating seventh-seeded Niles 55-29.

¯The Warriors played at Austintown Fitch during the regular season and came away with a 52-45 win.

“It’s always nice to play up there during the regular season so these girls, especially the younger ones, get a chance to be on the floor,” DeShields said. “We battled a tough, physical Fitch team very well on their home floor. I think that was a big factor in the seed we got. That earned us some respect up in the Youngstown area.”

¯Thursday’s was the last career home game for Rito and fellow senior Emma Rankin.

“Beating Louisville this year was probably one of my favorite memories,” Rito said. “That was a big key to our season.”

¯The Warriors finish the season 13-0 at home while holding opponents to an average of 34.5 points in their home games.

HUBBARD: 10-5-6-7–28

WEST BRANCH: 14-16-12-21–63

HUBBARD SCORING: Marissa Grande 3-2-8, Athena Smith 2-0-5, Annie DeLuco 0-0-0, Cassidy Costick 1-2-4, Marlee Granger 1-0-2, Jasmine Phillips 1-0-2, Ruthie Sandberg 1-0-2, Kelsey Tingler 1-0-2, Cailey Tingler 1-0-2, Shirleyann Martinez 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 11, 4-6: 28.

WEST BRANCH SCORING: Brenna Rito 6-1-18, Emma Rankin 1-0-3, Kayla Hovorka 4-1-9, Sarrah Tennefoss 2-1-5, Natalie Zuchowski 5-4-14, Grace Heath 2-0-4, Delaney Rito 0-0-0, Hannah Ridgeway 2-0-4, Shannon Wolfe 1-0-2, Peyton Alazaus 1-0-2, Jessica Bock 0-2-2, Kirsten Plocher 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 24, 9-16: 63.

Three-point goals: West Branch 6 (Brenna Rito 5, Rankin), Hubbard 2 (Smith, Cailey Tingler).

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