Monroeville wins sectional opener

MONROEVILLE — For the fifth time in the last six seasons, the Monroeville girls basketball team has won a Division IV sectional tournament game. The Eagles outscored visiting St. Mary Central Catholic by 11 points over the first three quarters of Thursday's 56-48 sectional semifinal win inside the Monroeville Athletic Complex. The No. 7-seeded Eagles improved to 8-13 overall and advanced to Saturday's sectional championship game at No. 2 Seneca East (17-5). Monroeville is seeking its first district appearance since the 2005-06 season. In Thursday's win, the Eagles led 10-8 after one quarter and 23-15 at halftime as Braylee Wise scored all seven of her points in the second quarter. In the third quarter, the Eagles outscored the Panthers (2-15) by three as Delaney Giles and Payton Scheid combined to score 15 of the team's 20 points as they extended their lead to 43-32 entering the fourth quarter. Giles led Monroeville with 14 points, while Scheid and Stacey Legg each had nine and Lexy Schafer added eight. ST. MARY CC (2-15) Brittan Kromer 2-0—5, Mena London 2-0—5, Sara Morrow 5-0—11, Hailey Bahnsen 1-0—2, Emily Kessler 2-0—5, Cam Miller 0-1—1, Riley Woodruff 2-0—4, Allie Weilnau 5-4—15. TOTALS 19-5—48. MONROEVILLE (8-13) Calle Rosser 2-0—4, Delaney Giles 3-8—14, Payton Scheid 4-1—9, Stacey Legg 3-3—9, Braylee Wise 3-0—7 Lexy Schafer 4-0—8, Alyssa Hupp 2-1—5. TOTALS 21 13-15 56. St. Mary CC 8 7 17 16 — 48 Monroeville 10 13 20 13 — 56 3-point FGs: (STM) Kromer, London, Morrow, Kessler, Weilnau; (M) Wise Mans. Christian 37, New London 35 MANSFIELD — New London's upset bid over the host Flames came up a basket short in Thursday's Div. IV sectional semifinal. The Wildcats (5-16) raced out to a 14-2 lead after one quarter and still led 23-13 at halftime. But then the No. 4-seeded Flames (17-3) awoke in the third with a 16-3 scoring advantage to take a 29-26 lead. The two teams then went back-and-forth in the fourth quarter, and the 'Cats still led 32-31 with 3:04 left. Trailing 37-35 with 31.6 seconds remaining, the Flames still the ball from the Wildcats with just over a second left to seal the win. In the loss, it was still a milestone night for New London senior Kiaya Thierry. Her 3-pointer late in the second quarter gave her 1,000 career points at New London. She finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting, and also added five rebounds. Thierry joined Kelly Graham and Joni Hall as the only 1,000-point scorers in program history. Emilee Rowland added 13 rebounds in the loss for New London. Mansfield Christian will host No. 5 South Central (11-10) in Saturday's sectional championship game.