Staff photo / Dan Hiner West Branch’s Madi Hoopes, left, goes up for a layup while getting fouled by Laurel’s Nyla Edwards during the first quarter of Saturday’s Division IV regional final at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.

CANTON — The West Branch girls basketball team hung on for as long as it could. But that wasn’t enough on Saturday at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Warriors couldn’t keep up with Laurel, falling to the Gators 53-41 in a Division IV regional final.

West Branch’s offense went cold in the third quarter, and it gave the Gators an opening to break the game open. Laurel capitalized and outscored the Warriors 16-4 in the frame.

“You can’t do that in a big game,” West Branch head coach Walt DeShields said. “I mentioned to our coaches, ‘We gotta find scoring somewhere.’ Our freshman Madi Hoopes – a tremendous player too, going to be a great player for us – she really played well in the first half, but you gotta have good balance.

“We started getting that in the fourth quarter, but in the third quarter, we had that stretch. And against a good team like Laurel Academy, you can’t have a stretch like that.”

Laurel (20-4) scored four points a minute into the second quarter to tie it at 13. From that point, the teams kept exchanging the advantage on the scoreboard.

The lead changed hands seven times during the eight-minute period, but the Gators took a 26-25 lead into the locker room.

The game was tied at 28 early in the third when the Gators went on a 7-0 run over a minute of play. It kickstarted a dominant quarter for Laurel.

The Warriors (23-4) were held off the board for nearly five minutes. Alli Kanagy finally changed the West Branch score after splitting a pair of free throws with 1:49 to play in the third.

A Nyla Edwards 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded punctuated the third for the Gators, who took a 42-29 lead into the fourth.

“We said, ‘We’re only down 10. Keep playing hard, keep getting through it. You got eight minutes more to go, and give it everything you got that last quarter,'” DeShields said.

And the Warriors did, but it wasn’t enough.

West Branch scored five points in the first 59 seconds of the fourth, but time wasn’t on its side. The Gators also continued to make shots, which extended its lead to 50-36 with 3:01 to play.

The Warriors had no answers for UNLV commit Tristan Williams, who led all scorers with 27 points.

Hoopes led the Warriors with 17 points. Audrey Eaton finished with nine points, Tallie Muniz added seven and Kanagy ended the day with four.

“Being together with this team means everything. Thirteen years I’ve been with this squad,” Kanagy said. “Playing with them and being able to go on this run, this deep, it means the world. To be able to put our mark on this legendary program, it just means everything.”

The Warriors will have a good portion of their core returning, with Eaton and Hoopes leading the way next season. But they will need to replace five seniors in Hallie Vie Burton, Ciara Evans, Sydney Lane, Muniz and Kanagy.

“Last game senior year, win or lose, is always a tough one … it’s tough,” DeShields said. “They don’t want to take the uniform off. I wish I could give them one more game. I wish I could give them one more practice. They worked really, really hard for four years. They worked really hard today. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the whole team.

“We gave everything we had on that court. We have no regrets.”