Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Austintown Fitch’s Rachel Spalding (33) goes up for a shot during the first quarter of a Division II district semifinal against Euclid at Austintown Fitch High School on Wednesday.

AUSTINTOWN — Almost every Euclid inbound was immediately greeted by an Austintown Fitch defender.

The Fitch press led to Panther problems throughout the night, and the Falcons flew to a Division II district semifinal win over Euclid 48-30 on Wednesday night in Austintown.

“Watched tape coming in, saw they kinda struggled with ball handlers and just knew we wanted to get out in front. Wanted to get out in front, haven’t been to a district title in 30 years,” Fitch head coach Dan Horacek said. “Really wanted to win this game for the senior group as well. For the four seniors, this is their last game on this floor.”

The final score wasn’t a good indication, and the game was more one-sided.

Fitch (12-11) scored the first six points of the game. And the lead increased to 11-2 through the first six minutes of play. The Falcons got a fastbreak layup from Rachel Spalding as the buzzer sounded, and they took a 15-4 lead at the end of the first.

Euclid was held to three points in the second — a 3-pointer by Emari McMahon to start the period. But back-to-back threes from Spalding kept the pressure on the Panthers.

“We were in man, we were in zone,” Spalding said. “Two different types (of defenses), and we emphasize that a lot in practice — getting steals, pressuring the ball, trapping the wings, trapping the corners. And I think we pressured them really well, and that just helped us on offense.”

Fitch’s lead grew to 40-7 before a 3-pointer by McMahon accounted for Euclid’s first points of the third.

The Falcons had a 45-15 lead by the end of the third quarter, and they only scored three points in the fourth quarter off three free throws, but the game was already in hand.

Spalding led the Falcons with 14 points. Amiya Harris added nine points, Katelyn Bower had seven and Jeweliana Farmer tallied six for a Fitch team that had seven different players score on the night.

The Falcons will play Olmsted Falls in the district championship on Saturday. Olmsted Falls is the defending Division I state champion and beat John Marshall 65-22 in its district semifinal on Wednesday. The opening tip is set for 4 p.m. at Elyria Catholic.

“They’re fantastic,” Horacek said. “Watched a little bit of them on tape, but these kids have been fantastic for four years, three years, two years — sophomores on up. They’ve taken every challenge head on, and they’ll definitely be up for this challenge on Saturday.”