Van Wert falls in D-II sectional semis

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

LIMA — No. 9 seed Van Wert had no answer for the freshman duo of Zoe Best and Grace Freiberger, as the two combined for 47 points in No. 6 seed Shawnee’s 68-43 Division II sectional semifinal win at Lappin Gymnasium on Wednesday.

Best finished with 27 points and Freiberger had 20, including 18 in the first half, as the Indians avenged a 55-50 loss to the Lady Cougars on February 4.

Shawnee (14-7) raced out to a 14-2 lead and enjoyed an 18-8 advantage at the end of the first quarter, with Best and Freiberger teaming up to score 16 points.

After a pair of free throws by Sofi Houg early in the second quarter, Shawnee scored 14 unanswered points to take a 32-10 lead and Freiberger hit a deep triple from the left wing at the buzzer to put the Indians ahead 35-12 at halftime. Van Wert’s only other points of the period came on two Jaylyn Rickard foul shots.

Shawnee connected on 14-of-22 shots in the first half and went on to finish 28-of-47 from the floor, while Van Wert (8-12) hit 4-of-22 shots in the opening half and 13-of-47 in the game.

“They shot lights out and credit them on a great game plan, they clearly executed a lot of their strengths,” Van Wert head coach Hannah Phlipot said. “Our kids are resilient, they fight and that’s stuff you can’t coach and that’s just the innate character of those girls.”

Rickard connected on three third quarter triples and scored 11 points in the period, but Shawnee countered with a pair of treys by Emily Skinner and led 49-29 entering the fourth quarter.

“It’s very hard to come back from that and we preached to our kids that they couldn’t make it all up in one possession, you have to chip away at it,” Phlipot said. “Little things got us and we dug ourselves a hole and it’s tough to come back from.”

Shawnee controlled the boards with a 26-19 advantage and the Indians hounded Van Wert into 20 turnovers, while committing 11 themselves.

It was the final game for three Van Wert seniors – Rickard, Carly Smith and Allison Schaufelberger.

“All three of our seniors – Jaylyn, Carly, Alli – have done more for this program than they realize,” Phlipot said. “They’re leaders to our younger kids and they do a lot of the unseen work. They’re going to be extremely hard to replace.”

Shawnee will face No. 5 seed Toledo Central Catholic for the sectional championship on Saturday. The Irish beat Toledo Scott 61-13 on Wednesday.

Scoring summary

Shawnee 18 17 14 19 – 68
Van Wert 8 4 17 14 – 43

Shawnee: Zoe Best 10-6-27; Hailee Conrad 3-0-6; Grace Freiberger 8-1-20; Emily Skinner 3-0-9; Kelly Cooper 1-0-2; Zoe Smith 2-0-4

Van Wert: Kyra Welch 2-1-5; Sofi Houg 3-4-11; Jaylyn Rickard 4-2-13; Allison Schaufelberger 2-2-6; Carlee Young 1-0-2; Lexi Barnhart 1-0-2; Erin Schaufelberger 0-2-2; Maria Bagley 0-2-2