AKRON — West Branch fell behind by eight points at halftime and found itself chasing Perry and the scoreboard the rest of the evening as the Warriors dropped a 38-28 decision to the Pirates in a Division IV district championship girls basketball game Saturday night at Akron North High School.

“We struggled to make shots early and just lost confidence there,” said West Branch head coach Walt DeShields. “But credit to our girls, they didn’t quit and got it back to five and I’m proud of them for that. That’s the type of gritty team we had all year long.”

“Playing West Branch, they’re a great team, well-coached and we know every time we play them it’s a battle,” commented Perry head coach Roy Infalvi Jr. “They’ve got a great program, so to get a win against them is a big thing for us.”

The loss ended the sixth-seeded Warriors’ season at 22-3 as they were making their third appearance in a district title game in the past six years.

The win vaults ninth-seeded Perry (18-7) into a D4 regional semifinal next Wednesday at 6 p.m. against the Laurel Gators at 6 p.m. at the Canton Fieldhouse.

West Branch had no players reach double figures in the game but leading the Warriors was center Tallie Muniz with seven points, while Ellie Tucker and Audrey Eaton added six markers each. All three players are underclassmen.

Leading the Pirates were Victoria Lynch with a game-high 11 points, while teammates Rosalyn Tharp and Emily Mechenbier added nine and seven points, respectively.

In a battle of two great defensive-dominated teams, Perry, which was bigger and more physical inside, denied the Warriors in the paint and also got many of the 50-50 balls in the contest.

“I thought we did it on the defensive end,” observed Infalvi. “From the opening tip I thought our possessions defensively were really good. I kind of saw us as similar teams.We kind of do the same type of thing and we knew it was going to be a tight game. We talked about it in the locker room how we had to win those 50-50 balls and 50-50 rebounds and I thought we did a nice job. Our girls play hard and they play together.”

After falling behind 5-0 to open the game West Branch came back to knot things up at 5-5 at the end of the frame.

But Perry outscored the Warriors 10-2 in the second quarter to forge an all-important eight-point (15-7) advantage at halftime.

Compounding West Branch’s offensive struggles was a sub-par evening at the free throw line. The Warriors were just eight-of-18 at the stripe while the Pirates canned 11 of 15 charity tosses.

“That (making free throws) has been a big emphasis of ours,” stated the Pirates’ coach. “We haven’t been a great foul shooting team, especially at the beginning of the year, and it’s been a big emphasis this past month for sure, but even going into tournaments we knew we had to make foul shots like this to win games.”

“Absolutely (foul shooting hurt),” said DeShields. “That’s something else we have to work on.”

Perry took as much as a 12-point (25-13) lead at the 1:49 mark of the third quarter and led 27-16 entering the fourth frame.

West Branch made its strongest offensive run of the evening as the Warriors outscored the Pirates 12-5 to pull within five points (30-25) following a free throw by Muniz with 2:46 left.

But with Perry in the bonus, West Branch was forced to foul and the Pirates converted four free throws and two layups in the remaining time to secure the 10-point triumph.

“I didn’t think we gave them (the Warriors) too many easy looks,” said the Perry coach. “A little bit maybe at the beginning of the fourth and end of the third when they went on a little bit of a run and we had a couple of breakdowns, but other than that, I thought we were in the right spot at the right time and got some big rebounds too.”

DeShields praised his three graduating seniors in Mati Hawk, Carter Shepherd and Presley Egli who led the Warriors to 22 wins and an outright Eastern Buckeye Conference crown this season.

“We had three seniors in there in their last game and I feel for them,” said DeShields. “I know how that feels but I think they’re going to look back on the season and have a lot of fond memories. Mati Hawk had a great season, Carter (Shepherd) is a great defender and Presley Egli had a good season and I want to mention those three who did a great job after what we lost from last season. They really did a great job this year all season and I’m proud of them for that. I know it’s not the way they wanted the season to end.”

DeShields, who returns a lot of letter-winners next winter, knows there’s a lot of promise for his team but also some work to do as well.

“For our underclassmen we’ve got a lot of talented players coming back,” said the West Branch coach. “They’ve got to work on some of their weaknesses for next season so we can come back stronger. The biggest thing is our junior class has got to step up and lead us now.”