WILLARD — Seneca East was focused on Norwalk St. Paul in its district semifinal game Thursday night.
Waiting in the wings was a potential rematch with Northern 10 Athletic Conference adversary Buckeye Central.
The No. 1 seeded Lady Tigers maintained their concentration, taking care of the No. 4 seeded Lady Flyers, 41-30, in the opening round of the Willard district tournament.
The first quarter set the tone for the game, thanks primarily to Seneca East’s Jessica Bowerman.
“If we have a better first quarter, I think it’s a totally different outcome,” St. Paul coach Vicky Mahl said. “But credit to Seneca East — actually credit to Bowerman. Not to take anything away from the rest of their team, if they don’t have her, it’s a totally different outcome.”
Bowerman scored 13 of her game-high 25 points and of her team’s 15 points in the first eight minutes, to give the Tigers a 15-3 lead after one.
“She’s just a hustler and she just gets after it,” Seneca East coach Don Vogt said of his junior sharpshooter. “There were some rebounds she came up with, some 3-point shots. She was just kind of in her zone tonight.
“She just kind of, as she does sometimes, put the team on her shoulders and tries to carry them,” Vogt continued. “But she gets some nice help too. I can’t say enough about all our kids.”
Seneca East (21-3) maintained the 12-point advantage — 23-11 — at intermission thanks to a buzzer-beater 3 by Brooke Bordner. Early foul trouble to Alexis Hicks and Amelia Boes kept the Tigers from stretching the lead.
But the Flyers were far from finished, using a third quarter run to get back within striking distance. The defense held Seneca East to five points in the frame and the offense chipped away.
“We talked at halftime and told (the girls) they had to come out and make a run in the second half and that’s what they did,” Mahl said. “We put (the Tigers) back on their heels a little bit there at the beginning. We just couldn’t make up some of the difference.”
St. Paul (21-4) whittled the deficit to 26-23 on a basket by Anna Lukasko with 3:18 left in the third quarter but did not score again in the frame. Hicks scored her only two points of the night to give her team a 28-23 lead after three.
“When you get two teams that are evenly matched like we were with St. Paul, it’s going to be the little things that get the job done,” Vogt said. “Whether you out-scrap them on the floor or out-scrap them on the boards — whatever that is.”
Camille Endsley completed a three-point play to start the fourth quarter to get the Flyers to within 28-26, but they got no closer. St. Paul had two shots to tie or take the lead but could not get the crucial basket.
“On a whole, we got the ball to the rim. We just didn’t get it in,” Mahl said. “I think for a one and four seed game, it was a pretty (darn) good game. We just didn’t finish. Foul shooting killed us tonight too and they know that.”
The Tigers held St. Paul to just two points over the last five-plus minutes of the game, allowing them to ease back out to a double-digit lead by the end.
“In the last five minutes, it was defense and coming up big on the boards and coming up with a couple of steals and a couple of hustle plays,” Vogt said.
Lukasko led the Flyers with 10 points and Endsley added nine. Morgan Baxter had seven rebounds.
Mahl says good-bye to seniors Lukasko and Megan Hammersmith but will have a lot coming back as well.
“We’ve had a great season. When you only lose four games, you’ve had a great season,” Mahl said. “You really hope at 21-3 it doesn’t end that way.
“I love coaching these girls,” an emotional Mahl added. “They’re hard workers and they don’t quit.”
Bordner had five points to second Bowerman’s 25. Boes and Bowerman had eight rebounds each.
Buckeye Central made the third meeting with Seneca East possible by winning the nightcap, 54-30, over Lucas. The Tigers’ coach had no preference of opponent prior to that.
“It doesn’t matter because you have one day to prepare and that’s it,” Vogt said. “You end up having to put your best game out on the floor Saturday and just pray that it’s good enough. I’d like three days, but that’s not what the state gives you.”
Buckeye Central and Seneca East will play for the district championship at 7 p.m. Saturday back at Willard High School.
Box score
Seneca East 41, Norwalk St. Paul 30
St. Paul 3 8 12 7 — 30
Seneca East 15 8 5 13 — 41
St. Paul (21-4): Shots 14-52; 3-pt. shots 0-8; Free throws 2-9; Rebounds 35 (Morgan Baxter 7); Turnovers 18. Scoring: Anna Lukasko 5 0 10, Megan Hammersmith 3 1 7, Camille Endsley 4 1 9, Danielle Smith 1 0 2, Brooke Houck 1 0 2.
Seneca East (21-3): Shots 16-43; 3-pt. shots 5-13 (Jessica Bowerman 4, Brooke Bordner); Free throws 4-6; Rebounds 33 (Amelia Boes 8, Jessica Bowerman 8); Turnovers 19. Scoring: Bailey Hamilton 1 0 2, Jessica Bowerman 9 3 25, Brooke Bordner 2 0 5, Makenna Depinet 2 0 4, Kiersten Cook 0 1 1, Amelia Boes 1 0 2, Alexis Hicks 1 0 2.