BARBERTON — West Branch knew it needed a great start in its Div. II regional semifinal against Norton on Tuesday at Barberton High School.

Norton had other plans.

Running out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter, the possession-hungry Panthers dictated the pace the rest of the game in a 36-31 victory.

West Branch bows out of the tournament at 21-6, while Norton (22-5) has a date with Salem in the regional final on Friday at Barberton High School. The Quakers eliminated Northwest 33-26 in the late game on Tuesday.

“They had that great first quarter and we missed some easy ones,” West Branch coach Walt DeShields said. “We said at halftime, we spotted them 11 points. It’s tough to come back from that mentally.”

The Panthers ran a pass-heavy offense that weaved its way around any Warrior defensive threat for most of the game. Most of that was dictated through Norton senior guard Bailey Shusta who is deemed the team’s quarterback by her coach Brian Miller.

“She’s a four-year starter at the point guard and is the catalyst,” Miller said. “Having her at quarterback has been huge for us throughout the tournament. It was a big loss without her for two months of the year, I’m not going to lie.”

“She’s quick and a 1,000-point scorer,” DeShields said. “When they can spread the floor, she can get to the rim and get an and-1 or a foul. She’s very, very quick and a good player.”

Gabby Destefano and Addie Kropp led the Panthers with 10 points each. Shusta had seven points but had one of the plays of the game when she broke down the West Branch defense on the dribble and nailed a shot to make it 27-15 with 3:18 to go in the third quarter.

The only thing seemingly stopping the Panthers from pulling away was its abysmal production from the free throw line. Norton was coming off a 10 for 30 night from the line in the district final against Gilmour Academy. It was 5 of 19 against West Branch.Miller estimated that the season free throw percentage is below 50 percent.

“I told the girls in the locker room after the game, as long as we keep winning you can keep missing them,” Miller said. “It doesn’t matter.”

Norton and West Branch both know the regional well but had never faced off up until this point.

“Norton is a really good team and they’ve been here seven out of the last 11 years,” DeShields said. “We’ve been here six out of the last nine, but I think it’s the first time we played each other here.”

West Branch trimmed Norton’s lead to 33-28 with 4:32 to go in the game after a hoop and foul shot from Anna Lippiatt. Lippiatt, who sat out some time in the first half with foul trouble, finished with eight points as did sophomore point guard Sophie Gregory.Norton went heavy into time-wasting mode at the end and erased seconds on the clock with ease. Sydney Mercer’s three-point play with 1:30 to go gave West Branch a window with 1:30 left with the score 34-31 but a Morgan Hallett basket put the game away with 1:12 left in the game.

DeShields said it ended up being a good season despite some doubts early in the season about Gregory running the point.

“We graduated 12 seniors in the last two seasons, so to get here is a great journey,” DeShields said. “Gregory is a tall point guard and unorthodox. Most people don’t have that tall point guard. I had faith in her and she just needed to get faith in herself. Once she did, you could see she’s pretty good. I think she’ll only get better from here.”

Seniors Lippiatt and Mercer will be missed, but the Warriors have a lot of experienced talent returning.

“We just got to work hard in the offseason and get better,” DeShields said. “Hopefully they’re hungry to get back here next year.”