DAYTON — Both Buckeye Central and Waterford have roughly the same distance to travel to get to the state tournament site. Each school will make the nearly 3-hour drive coming from different directions.

And both schools are frequent visitors in post-season play, although the University of Dayton venue is relatively new.

From 2015 to 2018, the Schottenstein Center in Columbus became a familiar place for Waterford, which advanced to the state tournament each of those seasons.

Now the Wildcats take on the Buckettes (26-1) at 2 p.m. Friday in the Division IV state semifinals at UD Arena. Waterford defeated Glouster Trimble 40-33 this past weekend to earn one of the four spots in D-IV.

Head coach Jerry Close, in an interview with The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, said his club has experienced a lot getting to the state tourney.

“The adversity they went through, the toughest schedule we’ve ever played. That’s why we play those schedules — to get them ready for this moment. Just really proud of their effort. I can’t say enough about them,” Close said.

That’s similar to BC playing the likes of Division II foes Shelby and Lexington. The Lady Whippets handed the Buckettes their lone loss of the season.

In the win over Trimble senior Mackenzie Suprano scored a team-high 12 points. She also led the ‘Cats with 4 assists and an equal number of steals.

Waterford made it to the state tournament a year ago, falling 57-29 to McDonald. Suprano scored a team-high 13 points in that game. She had 12, to go along with four assists and four steals, in the district title win this year.

“It feels amazing,” Suprano told the newspaper. “We’ve been dreaming of this moment since the season started. We’ve always just taken it one game at a time. Being senior year, we’re so excited to go back to state.”

That also sounded like Buckeye’s players, particularly standout guard Claudia Pifher, who spoke about their magical trip using much the same verbiage.

Waterford senior Cara Taylor and freshman Avery Wagner added six points apiece for the Wildcats, who improved to 24-3. Wagner, who grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, also blocked six shots, and held her own defensively against Trimble center Jayne Six, who led all scorers with 14 markers.

Junior Madison Hiener and freshman Kendall Sury scored five points each for the Wildcats.

“That was very hard fought,” Close said. “We watched film … we said first one to 40 would win the game, and we got to 40. It worked out well.”

“The kids stayed strong,” Close said. “When they made a run, we made a run.”

Close and Trimble’s Joe Richards were voted All-Southeast District Co-Coaches of the Year, chosen by the Ohio Preps Sportswriters Association. Taylor and Suprano earned first-team honors.

Waterford shot 14 for 46 from the field and committed 8 turnovers. The Wildcats were 9 for 14 from the free-throw line.

Buckeye Central prevailed 48-32 over Dalton after falling behind at one point 18-11.