WARRIORS EARN YET ANOTHER TRIP TO REGIONALS

UNIONTOWN OH- When you look at the tournament history of West Branch girls basketball, you’d only find a lot of success. West Branch came in to this season advancing to 5 of the last 9 regional tournaments. With that being said, they weren’t the favorites heading into the district tournament this year. A grooving Marlington team that was trying to leave its mark sat as the top seed in the bracket. The Dukes had won 4 of the last 5 meetings with West Branch. That includes ending the Warriors season last year in the semifinals. However, the Warriors proved that you can never count out this program in tournament time. They beat out the Dukes to win their 6th district championship in 10 seasons 47-41.

Sophie Gregory led the Warriors with 13 points on the night. She had two other teammates in double figures with Anna Lippiatt, and Livvie Showalter both finishing with 10. Mikalyn Fitts added an important 7 points to the total.

West Branch’s defense held Marlington leading scorer Chelsea Evanich to 12 points. Evanich scored 29 in the Dukes win over Streetsboro in the previous round. Maria Warner led the Dukes with 13.

The Warriors advance to the regional semifinals where they’ll meet Norton. That game is slated for 6:00 in Barberton on Tuesday, March 1st.