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Warren stretches lead in Division II final, 52-42

Warrior girls slip past Fairfield Union

Warren’s Katie Liston drives for a basket in sectional tournament action Saturday afternoon at Logan High School. The Warriors scored a 52-42 win over Fairfield union to claim a sectional championship. Photo by Mike Morrison.

LOGAN — Warren saved it’s very best for last in its Division II sectional final against Fairfield Union Saturday inside the Jim Myers Gymnasium at Logan High School.

The Warriors entered the final period leading the Falcons by a single point, before dominating the final eight minutes to earn a 52-42 sectional championship victory.

Warren scored the first 10 points of the final period and out-pointed Fairfield Union 14-5 in the final eight minutes to claim their second consecutive sectional title.

Warrior senior Katie Rauch led all scorers with 18 points including six in the final period to lead the way for the white and royal blue.

“We didn’t start out too well but I think we just wanted it more in the end,” said Rauch, who also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. “It was very physical in the beginning and we finally adjusted and I think we played better and better as the game went on.”

For the first three quarters, the game looked like it would come down to the final minutes as neither team was able to pull away from the other.

In fact, over the first 24 minutes of the contest, the biggest lead held by either team was six points.

Warren led 15-14 after the first quarter but the Falcons won the second quarter, 10-9, to send the game into the intermission knotted at 24 apiece.

The Warriors quickly jumped in front to open the second half on a put-back bucket by Kaitlyn Liston and an inside score by Rauch on a nice assist from Mollie McCutcheon before Fairfield Union strung together their biggest run of the game, scoring the next 10 points to turn a four-point deficit into a six-point lead.

Katherine Qualls and Mailyn Sunkle each scored five points in the two minute stretch that appeared to shift the momentum of the game into the favor of the Falcons.

The Warriors quickly returned the favor when they tallied the next 10 markers and built a four-point lead with less than a minute to play in the third.

“We just kind of hung in there and showed a lot of resilience and never gave up,” said Warren head coach Amy Colgrove. “We were able to get some key stops and make some key baskets when we needed them the most.”

Fairfield’s Hannah Burnside gave her team what appeared to be a much needed lift when she splashed a triple from well behind the arc in the final seconds of the third period to cut Warren’s lead a single digit.

The sharp-shooting Burnside knocked down a trio of 3-pointers in the game and likely would have had many more if not for the outstanding defense played by Liston and the rest of the Warrior defense.

“I thought Kaitlyn (Liston) did a great job on her defensively and I thought all of our girls did a great job of getting our hands in their faces in the second half,” said Colgrove.

Liston got things rolling for the Big Blue in the final period with a field goal and after a McCutcheon free-throw, Rauch came up with a big turnover and cashed it in at the other end to extend the Warren lead to 43-37.

Liston took a charge on the next Falcon possession and Warren took advantage on an Emily Jackson score, before Rauch added a basket and a free-throw to give the Lady Warriors their biggest advantage of the game at 48-37 with just two minutes to play.

Despite connecting on just 14-of-25 free throw attempts in the game, the Warriors made enough down the stretch to keep their double-digit lead intact to advance to district tournament play next Thursday at Southeastern High School.

Liston added 11 points to joinRauch in double figures for the Warriors who improved to 20-4 on the season.

Rauch made seven- of -eight shot attempts in the game while also grabbing three steals and dishing out three assists.

“I told Katie tonight before the game that she had to step it up and be a leader and she did today,” said Colgrove of her senior. “She went and got the ball when she needed it and set the tempo and defensively she got some steals and easy baskets in transition.”

Leading the way for Fairfield Union was Sunkle with 12 points while Burnside finished with 11.

“I thought it was a great game for three quarters but they just turned up the defensive intensity in the fourth quarter and I thought that was the difference in the ballgame,” said Falcon head coach Thomas Stedman, whose team’s season comes to an end with a 14-10 mark. “I told the girls at the end of the day we made them work for it and I was proud of their effort.”

Warren will advanceto take on Chillicothe Thursday night at Southeastern High School with tip-off slated for 6:15.

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