No. 1 Circleville 56, No. 4 Hillsboro 37
LOGAN — Circleville used a big run to take control of Wednesday’s district semifinal and advance past Hillsboro 56-37.
The win moves the top-seeded Tigers on to their third straight district championship game with cross-county rival and second-seeded Logan Elm as their opponent.
“I think that’s eight in a row now. We’re playing our best ball. And they’re having fun,” Circleville coach Josh Bakeman said. “ As long as they keep having fun, they’re gonna be a handful.”
The Tigers (20-4) got a three from Kaylee West in the final minute of the first quarter to go up 11-9 and then scored the first 13 points of the second to push the lead to 24-9 before the half ended with a 27-13 Circleville lead.
The No. 4 seed Indians (15-9) never got any closer than 11 points the rest of the night.
Addison Edgington led the Tigers with 15 points and seven rebounds along with blocking four shots.
Briley Cramer and Maddie Blakeman each had nine points for CHS with West (six rebounds) and Mallory McConnell each scoring eight and Juliana Sims-Ross scoring seven.
Ella Jordan led Hillsboro with 10 points and Tylee Davis, player of the year in the Frontier Athletic Conference, had nine points and 11 rebounds.
“Tylee Davis is a phenomenal player. One of the best players we play. I mean, one of the best players in Southern Ohio. We talked a lot about her,” Blakeman said. “I thought we did a really good job on her and our kids executed.
“Those kids, they just, they came to battle tonight, and I can’t be more proud.”
Circleville rides an eight-game winning streak into Saturday afternoon’s district final against Logan Elm – with the last loss coming at Logan Elm five weeks ago.
A win would give the Tigers their first district title since the 2020 season.
The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip at Logan.
No. 1 Circleville 56, No. 4 Hillsboro 37
Hillsboro — Ella Jordan 2-6-10, Kobie Mikes 1-5-8, Tylee Davis 4-1-9, Parker Wilkin 1-0-2, Taylor-Ann Scruggs 1-1-3, Anna Young 2-1-5. Three-point goals — Miles. Totals — 11-38 14-20 37.
Circleville — Briley Cramer 2-4-9, Maddie Blakeman 2-4-9, Juliana Sims-Ross 3-0-7, Kaylee West 2-2-8, Addison Edgington 7-1-15, Mallory McConnell 3-0-8. Three-point goals —Cramer, Blakeman, Sims-Ross, West (2), McConnell (2). Totals — 19-47 11-15 56.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Hillsboro 9 4 12 12 37
Circleville 11 16 13 16 56