Staff photo / Preston Byers. Western Reserve’s Kylee Ramsey handles the ball on Saturday against Maplewood.

BERLIN CENTER — The Western Reserve girls basketball team advanced to the OHSAA Division IV, Northeast 1 district tournament with a decisive 53-41 home victory against Maplewood on Saturday.

Quincy Miller scored 11 of the Blue Devils’ first 13 points, making three triples in the process, but the Rockets closed the first quarter strong and knotted the game up at 15 apiece heading into the second.

The second quarter proved to be a tough one offensively for Maplewood, which went scoreless for the first seven minutes of the period. Western Reserve took full advantage of the Rockets’ offensive woes and established a 26-17 halftime lead.

Maplewood head coach Stephanie Pykare said the second quarter was emblematic of a recurring issue the team has faced this season.

“We’ve had spurts all season where we’ve had trouble scoring. And that was the second quarter for us,” Pykare said. “There’s always one [quarter] where we struggle more than others. Just trying to get the girls composed, get them to stay on point and be able to weather some of those storms is something that we’ve gotten better at, but when we go into that offensive drought, it’s just kind of hard to turn.”

Despite more consistent scoring in the third quarter, Maplewood never managed to get any closer than six points for the rest of the game.

With the Rockets keying on Miller after her stellar first half, Western Reserve relied on Kylee Ramsey and Alyvia Hughes in the second half to grow its lead.

Hughes had seven of her nine points in the second half, while Ramsey made three triples and scored 16 of her game-high 22 points after halftime. Miller finished the game with 18 points, 15 of which came from three-pointers. Morgan Himes led Maplewood with 13 points.

Pykare said her team was well aware of the danger Western Reserve’s shooters posed, but they failed to communicate as well as they had planned on switches, allowing the Blue Devils enough room to launch threes.

Western Reserve head coach Steve Miller said his team having several adept shooters is a big part of its success.

“We’re still gonna pound the ball inside and we still get the inside-outside touches,” Miller said. “But the other night here, it was [Angelina] Cappabianca, she had the hot hand early on and I think she hit three threes in the first half. So having multiple girls that can stretch the defense like that, that’s kind of who we are. And that’s what we’ve been all season.”

With Saturday’s loss, Maplewood’s season comes to an end. After the game, Pykare became emotional while discussing the adversity her team overcame this season and the potential she believes they possess moving forward.

“This is my third year only having seven players. All that comes with that, trying to prepare a varsity team, I’m extremely proud of these girls for never using it as an excuse. It’s never something we talked about. We got creative. We did whatever we could to try and create game-like opportunities (in practice),” Pykare said. “Last season, we were 3-13 and our season ended early because of injuries and low numbers. So for us to go above .500 this season — we finished 13-10 — I can’t say enough about these girls.”

With only one senior graduating, Pykare is very optimistic about Maplewood’s prospects next season and said the team could compete for the Northeastern Athletic Conference title.

“We only lose Mady [Cikosh], and she’s a significant loss, but we have our core group coming back, so I’m just incredibly proud and excited for the future,” Pykare said. “I haven’t thought too much and set a lot of goals yet, but we have a great group coming up and I know these returners have a ton of goals for themselves and for the team.”

Western Reserve (15-9) now advances to the district semifinals, which will take place at Grand Valley next week. The Blue Devils, the eighth seed, will play 14th-seeded Canton Central Catholic on Wednesday. The Crusaders defeated Lisbon David Anderson on Saturday 54-12 in their sectional final game.

Miller said Canton Central Catholic resembles the Blue Devils since both teams have multiple players capable of scoring from the outside. He said his team will be prepared for the challenge, though, and that they are eager to return to Grand Valley and attempt to repeat as district champions.

“Every team is looking to try to stay alive as long as you can,” Miller said. “Getting to the districts is a huge accomplishment. These girls that are seniors, we went to Grand Valley and we lost in the district semi when they were sophomores. So we’re happy to be back to get a second shot at it.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Preston Byers by email at pbyers@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @PresByers.