Staff photo / Dan Hiner. West Branch’s Madi Hoopes goes up for a layup during the first quarter of Tuesday’s Division IV district semifinal against Salem at West Branch High School.

BELOIT — The defenses for the West Branch and Salem girls basketball teams showed up both times they played in the regular season. And Tuesday saw both stop units take their game to another level with their seasons on the line.

However, West Branch won the defensive battle 28-19 to take a Division IV, Northeast 2, district semifinal and the three-game season sweep over its rival.

“Salem plays hard, and it was a close game. We got a little bit of separation there in the fourth quarter, but other than that, it was either team’s game in the fourth quarter,” West Branch head coach Walt DeShields said. “Our girls just do a great job defensively, they have all year. I think we’re giving up around 28 a game. Last year, here in a tournament game against Salem, we gave up 19. I guess 19’s our number in the tournament against Salem two years in a row.”

The Warriors took both meetings prior to Tuesday’s playoff game. They won 41-22 in Beloit on Jan. 7 and 46-34 in Salem. So even though it hasn’t been a high-scoring rivalry this year, the playoff game was a little bit of a different story.

There were only two buckets in the first quarter, both by West Branch (21-3). The Warriors kept the Quakers off the board, as they led 7-0 by the end of the frame.

The scoring did not open up in the second quarter either, but Salem started to see some success.

Abby Knickerbocker got the Quakers on the board with a put-back 43 seconds into the second.

The Quakers (13-11) got back into the game and tied it at 7, but the Warriors scored the final four points of the quarter — a scoring outburst by the game’s standard — to take a 13-8 lead into the break.

“I was telling our coaching staff, ‘If we have a four-point lead, that’s two possessions.’ And in this game, two possessions is a lot, all night long,” DeShields said. “Kept glancing up at the scoreboard, as long as we were up by four, I was pretty calm.”

West Branch kept the Quakers from battling back and tying the game a couple times in the third with some timely buckets. And headed into the fourth, the Warriors led 21-16.

Both teams were held scoreless for nearly three minutes to start the fourth, but a Madi Hoopes jumper extended the Warriors’ lead to 23-16.

Salem was in need of a bucket, something they still lacked in the fourth with 2:20 to play, but a Hoopes block at the rim kept the Quakers from making it a one-score game.

The Quakers never threatened as the Warriors went 5-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minutes to close out the win.

“It’s a backyard rivalry. We knew going in it was going to be a fight,” Salem head coach Matt Mowery said. “We were the underdogs. No one expected us to come in here and win this game, and we were pretty dang close.”

Hoopes was the only double-digit scorer in the game, finishing with 10 points. Hallie Vie Burton had six points for the Warriors and Audrey Eaton finished with five.

“We got some gritty girls that just play tough for each other,” DeShields said. “When you got that, you can have a pretty good basketball team.”

Knickerbocker and Garyn Rohm each had 12 to lead the Quakers.

The Quakers will bring back a large chunk of their team next season, but they will graduate four seniors. The senior class consisted of Karlie Sampson, Maddy Andres, Emilee Lewis and Rohm.

“Personality and just good kids,” Mowery said of the seniors. “I was very blessed to have them in the locker room and what they brought on the floor. Each of them brought something different leadership-wise. They were all captains because they all brought some different things to the table.

“They’re gonna be missed. Their careers are over, but at the same time, they left the program in better shape than before they came here.”

The Warriors advanced to face Streetsboro on Saturday in the district championship. The opening tip is set for 4 p.m. at Lordstown High School.

“Just nice to get a win, get into the district final for the third year in a row, and I know our girls are looking forward to that,” DeShields said. “They’re really hungry to get one.”

DESHIELDS GETS WIN NO. 400

After the game, the public address announcer took to the mic. He announced that the win was DeShields’ 400th of his career.

The West Branch girls surrounded their head coach to congratulate him on the win.

“It’s because I coached a long, long time and been lucky enough to do that,” DeShields said with a smirk. “Certainly credit to all our players that committed to all those years, it’s to the coaching staff — a lot of those guys have been with me almost the whole time — I know they have been there a lot of years. Having that staff … when you can trust your staff, that’s really, really big as a head coach.

“And certainly my family, the support that they’ve given me over the years. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing for so many years without the support of my wife, Penny, and my three sons. And certainly the fans, the support here at West Branch has been tremendous for girls basketball, it always has been, before I got here and hopefully after I leave.”