SHELBY — Seneca East’s high-powered offense sputtered a little in the Lady Tigers’ district semifinal game against Milan Edison.
Fortunately, the defense didn’t take the night off.
Seneca East trailed by five points at halftime, scoring just 14 points in the first two quarters, but defensively, the Tigers held the Lady Chargers to 11 points in the third and fourth quarters.
It was enough to allow Seneca East to tie the game in regulation, then outscore Edison, 6-2, in overtime to stay alive in the tournament with a 36-32 win in the opener of the Division III district tournament at Shelby High School.
“They can turn up the defense,” Edison coach Tracey Moyer said of the Tigers. “They have another gear that they can get into and they did it in the fourth quarter when they needed it.”
Seneca East (22-2) did, indeed, need that defense after struggling to score, particularly in the first half. The Tigers hit just two of 11 shots in the first period, six of 24 for the half and committed 10 turnovers.
“We played an unusually, for us, not very good game,” Seneca East coach Don Vogt said. “But that’s to Edison’s credit. They came out and they played tough and we played tight.”
The Tigers trailed 19-14 at intermission and had led just once, at 5-4, and were tied just once at 7-7 early in the second quarter. Even with the lead, Moyer thought the Chargers missed opportunities to stretch the advantage.
“Especially in that first quarter, it seemed like we missed bunny after bunny after bunny,” Moyer said. “You just can’t do that against good teams and let them stay around. Four points is four points (the losing margin) and that was all in the first quarter.”
The Tigers put up 11 points in the third quarter to just six for Edison to knot the score at 25-25 heading to the final period.
Fittingly, each team scored five in the fourth quarter to send the game to an extra session tied at 30-30.
“It was not a very good shooting night for either team.” Vogt said. “But in tournaments, you’ve got to grind it out.”
In the overtime super sophomore Jessica Bowerman took over for Seneca East. Bowerman grabbed three offensive rebounds to keep a possession alive and scored four of the Tigers’ six overtime points to hold off the Chargers.
“She has a motor that just doesn’t quit,” Moyer said of Bowerman. “When she’s going to get the ball, she’s going to get the ball. You take your hat off to her.”
Bowerman finished with a game-high 15 points and 16 rebounds. Marina Adachi added 12.
Alana Fidler led Edison (19-6) with 12 points and Aliyah Caporini had nine. Caporini, Fidler and Hannah Vitaz grabbed eight rebounds each.
“I don’t know if it’s not tournament nerves,” Vogt said. “When you get into a game like this, and last year this is as far as we made it and lost this game, that could be in the back of their minds. Who knows what teenagers think? What I do know is they put their foot down, they were very determined, and we came out on top.”
Five Chargers — Molly Houser, Fidler, Vitaz, Sam Smith and Jessica Stoll — played their last game in an Edison uniform.
“That was their goal, to cut down nets,” Moyer said. “They made that happen, they tied the school record (for wins). The didn’t stay away from the spotlight here at the districts. They all played well.”
“We uncharacteristically turned the ball over and missed easy shots,” Vogt said. “We challenged them at halftime, and they squared up and came back and fortunately won the game.”
Seneca East will meet Margaretta, a 65-38 winner over Western Reserve in the other semifinal, for the district title on Saturday at 2 p.m. back at Shelby.
Box score
Seneca East 5 9 11 5 6 — 36
Milan Edison 7 12 6 5 2 — 32
Seneca East (22-2): Shots 13-43; 3-pt. shots 4-13 (Marina Adachi 2, Jessica Bowerman, Emily Siesel); Free throws 6-11; Rebounds 37 (Jessica Bowerman 16); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Jessica Bowerman 5 4 15, Emily Siesel 2 0 5, Bailey Hamilton 0 2 2, Marina Adachi 5 0 12, Caylin Quiggle 1 0 2.
Edison (19-6): Shots 14-48; 3-pt. shots 1-10 (Hannah Vitaz); Free throws 3-7; Rebounds 32 (Aliyah Caporini 8, Alana Fidler 8, Hannah Vitaz 8); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Aliyah Caporini 4 1 9, Molly Houser 3 0 6, Alana Fidler 5 2 12, Hannah Vitaz 2 0 5.