Junior Izzy Lamparty had 20 points, and the aggressive Raider defense pitched a shutout against Columbiana’s all-time leading scorer to punch its ticket to the title tilt.

Second-seeded South Range (18-6) will meet No. 4 seed Crestview in the district final at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Struthers Fieldhouse.

Izzy Lamparty, coupled with her sister Gabby, scored the first 11 points of the game, putting the Raiders on firm footing against the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference champions.

“They bring so much intensity to the game,” junior guard Bree Kohler said. “They make it fast and interesting no matter what. If there’s a loose ball, they’re going to go get it. They put a show on and we get to play with them.”

Morning Journal photo / Mike Burich Columbiana’s Kayla Muslovski looks for an opening.

Kohler was sharp on her own, scoring 15. She admitted she had snapped a bit of a frustrating stretch scoring.

“I was just doing my thing,” Kohler said. “I haven’t scored that much lately, but I had some fire and it sparked the scoring.”

Defensively the Raiders held Columbiana senior guard Kayla Muslovski to zero points in her final game.

“She’s a really good player,” Kohler said. “I used to play with her when I was little when I went to Springfield. It felt pretty good to stop her.”

South Range coach Jeff Fishel didn’t realize his defenders had shut down Muslovski following the game.

“It was a big emphasis in the prep for this game,” Fishel said. “We had to make sure we knew where she was at all times. Bree and Gabby took turns on her. Apparently whatever they did worked.”

Lexi Giles also played a big role with 14 points for the winners.

Columbiana (17-7) has won seven straight league champions split between the EOAC and the defunct Inter-Tri County League, but none of those triumphs extended into a district championship. The Clippers’ last district title came in 2007 in Division IV.

“We didn’t have energy tonight,” Columbiana coach Dave Crismon said. “I told my assistant it was like beating on a dead horse. I told them before the game whoever got off to a fast start was going to have the advantage, but it didn’t happen to us.”

Crismon said the Clippers had been a streaky team this season and usually would feed off each other if there was a run.

“We could just never really do that against them,” Crismon said.

Grace Witmer tallied eight points to lead the Clippers.

Kohler and Izzy Lamparty had roles on the 2018 district championship team and they also know the disappointment of being upset as the team fell short against Southeast in the semifinal last season.

“It felt so good to win freshman year against Salem and we wanted to do it again,” Kohler said.