Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Heartland Christian’s Sarah Reynolds, right, fights her way to the basket during the second quarter of Saturday’s Division VII sectional final against Chalker in Southington.

SOUTHINGTON — The 2025-26 girls basketball season was a little tumultuous for Heartland Christian.

The Lions had their head coach step down during the season, and Sydney Tuggle was promoted from an assistant and JV coach to the program’s leader. They were also very young, with only two seniors on the roster, but the Lions battled through the adversity.

However, Heartland Christian’s season came to an end on Saturday with a 59-41 defeat in a Division VII, Northeast 3, sectional final on Saturday against Chalker in Southington.

“Offensively, we just can’t rebound. We’re a small team,” Tuggle said. “We’re young, and I think it just comes with age, and positioning and understanding that offensive rebounds can mean just as much as defensive.”

The Wildcats controlled the boards from the start, grabbing nine offensive rebounds in the first quarter. Chalker (16-6) led 11-5 with 4:44 to play in the opening period, with six points coming off second chances.

A 13-0 run over the next three minutes ballooned Chalker’s lead to 22-5, and the hosts took a 26-12 lead into the second quarter.

An 8-0 run by the Lions (8-14) cut Chalkers lead to 30-20 with three minutes to play in the half. But the Wildcats quickly regained control with three straight buckets, and a half-court heave from Abby Grimm as the buzzer sounded gave Chalker a 41-24 lead at halftime.

The Lions flirted with getting the deficit down to 10 on a couple occasions in the second half, but every time they got close, Chalker got a bucket or two to quell Heartland Christian’s momentum.

With an 18-point lead, Chalker cleared its bench with 1:04 to play.

“Just learning to slow down with the ball,” Tuggle said. “We’ll get into good positions, we get tired, so we throw not-so-good passes and we throw up shots that may not fall in. They’re a very mental team right now, and mentally they just could not get out of the hole.”

Heartland Christian’s Sarah Reynolds led all scorers with 19 points, and Kaylin Norbo added 12.

Chalker scattered its scoring, with five players accounting for at least seven points. Katelyn Cook was the Wildcats’ top scorer with 16 points, Grimm chipped in 15, Tatum Hudak and Julia Ross both had eight and Riley Ashcraft finished with seven.

The Lions will bring back most of its roster, but they will lose seniors Megan Wittenmyer and Kalleigh Shodd.

“Our seniors are amazing girls. They add such a level of leadership to the team,” Tuggle said. “Kalleigh Shodd had a concussion at the beginning of the season, came back, was a huge asset in the starting five for me. Then two games ago, she got a concussion again. We’re really sad losing her … huge asset on and off the court, huge leader.

“And Megan’s speed. She doesn’t run out of energy and is consistent. So we’re really gonna miss them next year.”

Next season’s potential returners will feature Reynolds, Gabriella McDowell, Kaylin Norbo, Emily Rhodes and Selah Ciardi. All five of them started in the playoff game Saturday and all of them were freshmen and sophomores except for Reynolds, who will enter her senior season next winter.

“I got the team three-quarters of the way in,” Tuggle said. “They were dealt a really tough hand, and the games that we won that we shouldn’t have were just pure grit. We have that to look forward to in the future. These girls want to win, they want to play and I think that’s why we win. Because they play together, they play with heart and it’s truly amazing to watch them.”