The Washington Court House Lady Lions saw their season come to an end Tuesday night in the Girls Division II Regional Semi's at Zanesville High School with a 62-40 loss to undefeated New Philadelphia.
The Blue Lions were short-handed on the night as point guard Rayana Burns was sidelined after dislocating her ankle in the District Championship game against Vinton County. Her ball handling and defensive tenacity was missed as Coach Leach was forced to use players in different positions to help fill the void.
Washington fell down early in the game trailing 14-6 after the first quarter and was down by as many twelve points in the first half before going on a run of their own to cut the lead to four points, 26-22 with under a minute to go in the half but every time the Blue Lions would start a run, New Philly would counter and they closed the half on a 4-0 run to take a 30-22 halftime lead.
The Lady Lions tried to keep things close in the third quarter but New Philadelphia started to pull away and led by fourteen going into the final frame. The fourth quarter, the Lady Quakers put their foot on the gas and pulled away outscoring Washington by eight points in the quarter to finish with a twenty two point victory, 62-40.
On the night Washington was led Senior Hannah Haithcock who really put the team on her back, she led all scores with 22 points, she was the only Lady Lion in double figures. Shawna Conger had 7, Bre Taylor chipped in 6, Halli Wall had 3 and Tabby Woods finished with 2. They shot 18-49 from the field for 37% and made just 2-12 three point shots for 17%, they were 2-5 from the charity stripe, committed 19 turnovers and pulled down 16 rebounds.
The Lady Lions finished the season 20-6, were FAC Champs, Sectional Champs, and District Champs.
New Philadelphia (26-0) had four players score in double figures, led by the schools all-time leading scorer, Aaliyah Currence's 17 points, Rachel Anderson had 14 and Josie Pry and Kate McEwan had 12. The four combined for all the Lady Quaker points. On the night they shot 27-52 for 52%, were 4-12 from beyond the arc, made 4-8 free throws, committed 17 turnovers and pulled down 28 rebounds. New Philly moves on to the Regional Finals on Friday.
To hear the podcast of last night's game click the link below: