On to the next one: State-ranked West Branch girls basketball routs Fitch, readies for Norton

BELOIT — West Branch, the 10th-ranked Division II girls’ basketball team in Ohio, added another victim to its impressive resume when the Warriors leveled a solid D1 Austintown Fitch team 50-21 Saturday afternoon in the West Branch Fieldhouse.

How did the Warriors do it? With another great defensive performance.

The 2023-24 West Branch team is on pace to shatter the school record for lowest points scored by opponents in a season with its average of just over 27 points per contest.

“We’re about three points under (the school record),” said West Branch head coach Walt DeShields. “To start the season, that was one of the goals, not to break the record, but just to play better defense than we did last year.  Normally, our goal is under 40 and we’ve only had two teams score over 40 against us and that was (2022-23 D1 state runner-up) Olmsted Falls and Ursuline.”

“Coach DeShields does a great job with that program every year,” said Austintown Fitch head coach Dan Horacek whose team is now 12-7.  “I think it just came down to matchups today and when you have three girls that are 6 foot and over and then you have our squad, that’s going to happen.”

With the win, the Warriors improved to 17-2 and will be the No. 4 seed overall of 65 teams in Sunday’s Division II Northeast district which will now include five separate sectional-district tournaments.

West Branch dominated Fitch. The Warriors, who never trailed, held quarter-stop leads of 13-5, 24-6 and 36-13 and took its largest lead at game’s end at 29 points (50-21) following a basket by Alli Kanagy with 12 seconds left.

Leading the Warriors’ offense against Fitch was 6-2 All-Ohioan Sophie Gregory with a game-high 17 points to go along with eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

“She’s a special player,” said DeShields of Gregory, a Youngstown State commit. “She’s a fun player to watch because she does everything for us at both ends. She creates offense for other girls and she can score herself and she plays great defense. Because she’s long, she frustrates girls with her length in passing lanes.”

Rising as an all-important second scorer for West Branch on Saturday was talented freshmen Audrey Eaton who finished with 12 points, including two of the Warriors’ 3-pointers in the contest. As the Warriors edge closer to the  postseason, having a consistent second scorer behind Gregory will be paramount.

“I’m so glad for Audrey Eaton because she works so hard after practice and what she did today was because of her hard work after practice,” lauded DeShields. “We talked to her about having confidence as a freshman and to see her in double digits today was big for us.

“I thought for the most part we took a lot of good shots,” continued DeShields. “Our shot selection was right there and our screens were right there with the timing and the rhythm of it.”

West Branch held Austintown Fitch to a season-low in scoring and the Falcons had no players in double figures. Leading Fitch with seven points was Destanie McCullough.

“We’ve held several teams to their lowest point total of the season because we want to prove that we’re a really good defensive team,” said DeShields. “Our length, if you notice we got a lot of deflections and blocks, and we did a pretty good job of closing out on shooters.”

Fitch’s Horacek agreed.

“Their height, we just don’t match up well with that team,” said the Austintown Fitch mentor. “Credit to West Branch, they’re really good and they’re going to make a nice run in the playoffs, but I’m really proud of our kids with how they fought through the entire game, they didn’t quit and kudos to them for not giving in.”

West Branch also won the JV game, defeating the Falcons 39-26.

West Branch will play a rare Monday night game in a big matchup against the Norton Panthers (13-6) in Norton.

“Monday night it will be a little different,” said DeShields. "A long drive over to Norton, and coach (Brian) Miller does a great job up there. They play hard and aggressive and they’re having a good season and they’ve already won the league they are in for like the eighth year in a row.

"Our schedule, if you look at it, and I told the girls, you want to be challenged, especially non-league, because that’s the only thing that’s going to make you better. It gets you a little uncomfortable here and there and that’s the only way you improve. We don’t want games where you win easy  — you want tough battles.”

This article originally appeared on The Repository: West Branch girls basketball wins big, readies for Norton, tournament