LOWELLVILLE — Lowellville hosted Badger in a Division VII sectional final on Saturday afternoon, and the Rockets advanced to the Northeast District semifinals with a 55-27 victory.

“I’m really excited for our girls,” Lowellville coach Lisa Modelski said. “They did a really good job of executing our game plan. We put in a pretty in-depth game plan. These girls studied it from top to bottom. That was the difference.”

Sophie Stanhope and Emily O’Brien each nailed one from downtown in the first quarter for the Braves. However, senior Morgan Lewis scored nine of her game-high 25 points as Lowellville led 15-10 heading to the second.

“We’re really focused on tournament time,” Lewis said. “We’re happy to get the win today. We really focused on our defense. We moved the ball around on offense. The coaching was amazing. All of my teammates played well.”

Sophomore Sydney Procick made a finger-roll and had an assist to fellow sophomore Gianna Palumbo up top for a 3-pointer. McKenna Lewis scored just before halftime to put Lowellville ahead 26-16 at the break.

Then, the Rockets really pulled away to start the second half. Palumbo made a jumper, and Morgan Lewis stole the ball and had back-to-back layups.

“I thought her energy was amazing tonight,” Modelski said. “Morgan has the most experience on the team. It’s tournament play, and she responded amazingly like she always does.”

Stanhope (team-high nine points) and O’Brien made shots from behind the arc for Badger again in the third. Riley Thomas scored, but the Braves (9-14) couldn’t catch back up.

“Lowellville did a great job,” Badger coach Patrick Carney said. “They have a nice team. We couldn’t get into any kind of a rhythm offensively. We turned the ball over a lot. Once they extended the lead to double digits, we just weren’t able to recover.

“Gabriella Miller and Sophie Stanhope, our two seniors, have been a part of some really good teams the last couple of years. We’re really going to miss them.”

The Rockets moved the ball when when they found senior Michelle Cavna (10 points) down low for a bucket. Senior Alyssa Kuzan made a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and Lowellville was up 43-22 heading to the fourth quarter.

The Rockets (11-12) played keep away with the ball to drain the clock in the fourth.

Lowellville advances to play at Middlefield Cardinal (12-11) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the district semifinals.

“I’m just excited for the opportunity to go out and get another game under our belts, especially for our seniors,” Modelski said. “I think Cardinal is a pretty similar team to us. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put together another good game plan. And, the kids will execute it like they did tonight.”