CIRCLEVILLE — These two Tigers teams turned Thursday night’s Division II girls basketball sectional championship bout into a “Roundtown” rockfight.
Unfortunately for visiting and ninth-seeded Waverly, their scoring against eighth-seeded Circleville was harder to come by.
As a result, Waverly’s Lady Tigers are denied a sectional championship —as they were shut out in the opening canto and couldn’t quite catch all the way up, falling 37-32 and ending the season at 16-7.
In fact, Thursday’s season-ender was Waverly’s only loss outside of the rugged Southern Ohio Conference Division II, as the Lady Tigers split with West and South Webster —and were swept by both Wheelersburg and Minford.
West won the league for the first time in school history, and its only season setback was a 55-49 loss at Waverly on Dec. 15.
But against Circleville, the Lady Tigers were shut out 7-0 in the first period —and found themselves doubled-up down 18-9 at halftime.
The two teams tied 11-11 in the third frame, while Waverly won the fourth 12-8.
Still, the slow start doomed the Lady Tigers in the end, and while they shot 19 free throws to Circleville’s 16, all but four fourth-quarter tosses from senior Kelli Stewart occurred in quarters two and three.
Circleville’s Lady Tigers were 10-of-16 for the game, and 6-of-10 in the last eight minutes, as the game’s leading scorer Morgan Blakeman buried 4-of-6 in the last.
Blakeman was 5-of-8 at the stripe and Gabby McConnell 3-of-4, as Blakeman bucketed 14 points and McConnell chipped in 11.
McConnell with a second-stanza pair, and Blakeman with a first-quarter trifecta, accounted for all three of Circleville’s three-pointers.
Blakeman also had a deuce and Maddie Blakeman meshed 2-of-2 free throws for all seven of Circleville’s first-period points.
Faith Yancy and Maddie Blakeman both scored six points apiece.
Bailey Vulgamore, on three total field goals and 4-of-6 foul shots, paced Waverly with 13 points in her final high school game.
Her only three-pointer came in the final quarter, as Sadie Royster rained one in during the third.
Stewart secured a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds — as Vulgamore, Stewart and Caris Risner each made three steals.
Risner scored three points, and freshman Paige O’Bryant made a second-quarter field goal.
It was the final game for three Lady Tigers seniors: Vulgamore, Stewart and Morgan Crabtree.
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