Faith Yancey fed Gabby McConnell for a layup with one minute left to give Circleville a two-point lead and Circleville limited visiting Bloom-Carroll to a free throw and a desperation halfcourt shot at the buzzer to clinch an outright league title 34-33 Saturday night.
The Tigers stay unbeaten on the season at 20-0 (13-0 Mid-State League Buckeye).
After a 7-3 Circleville lead in the first quarter, Bloom-Carroll scored the next 17 points to go up 20-7 and BC was up 20-11 at the half.
Circleville’s defense stepped it up a notch in the second half to hold BC to seven points in the third and the offense closed to the gap to 27-22 heading into the fourth quarter.
BC’s Emily Bratton was fresh off a career-high 42-point effort on Thursday and had put in 11 during the first half. The Tigers held her to a single point in the second half.
Maddie Blakeman led the Tigers with 15 points – 12 in the second half. McConnell finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Yancey, who was in charge of controlling Bratton most of the night, finished with six points and five rebounds.
Circleville will try for a perfect run through the league when the Tigers head to Teays Valley Monday night. Circleville begins tournament play Thursday night with the winner of the Vinton County/Washington CH game and has a regular season contest left Saturday afternoon as the Tigers host Chillicothe at 2:30.
Circleville 34, Bloom-Carroll 33
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Bloom-Carroll 9 11 7 6 33
Circleville 7 4 11 12 34
