The Lady Blue Lions season came to a close Wednesday night as they fell to the Sheridan Lady Generals 57-44 in the Girls Division II District Championship.
The Lady Lions jumped out to an early lead over Sheridan in the first quarter and held the lead until 30 seconds to go in the first, when Sheridan took their first lead. Washington was able to retake the lead with just seconds remaining before Sheridan's Sara Cooper hit her only bucket on the night as time expired in the quarter to tie the game at 12. Her bucket seemed to inspire the team as they outscored Washington 14-10 in the second quarter to take a 26-22 lead into the half.
The Lady Blue Lions out shot Sheridan in the first half knocking down 9 shots compared to Sheridan's 8 but Sheridan knocked down three 3-point shots compared to just one for Washington Court House and Sheridan was 7-8 from the free throw line compared to just 3-5 for Washington.
The third quarter was much of the same with the teams keeping pace with one another but Sheridan outscored the Lady Lions again 14-10 to take a 40-32 lead going into the final period. In the fourth quarter Washington stayed close but couldn't cut the lead to more than five as the Lady Lions were forced to foul and Sheridan answered by knocking down 13 second half free throws to take the victory 57-44.
Sheridan controlled the boards all night long, not allowing Washington to get into transition and eliminated the easy buckets and second chance opportunities for Washington Court House. Sheridan out rebounded the Lady Lions 33-17 on the night. Washington Court House finished the night shooting 16-52 for 31% which included going 3-9 from behind the arc. They shot 7-14 from the charity stripe and committed 16 turnovers.
Washington Court House (22-4) finished the season with their best record since the 1991/92 season. They were led in scoring on the night by Junior Hannah Haithcock who led all scores with 22 points, Rayana Burns chipped in 12 in the defeat.
Sheridan (20-3) finished the night shooting 16-41 for 33% including 4-14 from beyond the arc, they committed 17 turnovers and finished the night 20-24 from the charity stripe for 83%. Sheridan was led in scoring by Junior's Emma Conrad and Rachel each scoring 18 points and sophomore point guard Kendyl Mick finished with 17.
Sheridan now moves on to the Division II Regional tournament in Zanesville this Tuesday at 6:15 p.m.