AUSTINTOWN — The Poland Bulldogs are trying to make their own history. The second-seeded Bulldogs have not lost a game since December and have won 16 in a row, including Wednesday’s a 47-36 victory over the Southeast Pirates in a Division II district semifinal.

The victory propels the Bulldogs to 22-2 on the year and into the district title game on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Fitch High School, where they will take on the top-seeded West Branch Warriors. The Pirates close the season with an 18-6 record.

“It means a lot coming back from last year and trying to replicate what we had last year,” senior Kailyn Brown said about the Bulldogs’ 2018-19 team that made it to the regional title game. “We are our own team this year and I think we have done a great job so far.”

“Every win is a big win. We’re in the shadows of last year’s team,” coach Nick Blanch said. “A lot of people thought that was our glory run and these girls have worked hard and want to write their own story. They are doing a great job and we’re just taking it one obstacle at a time.”

After the Pirates scored first in the contest, the Bulldogs grabbed an early lead when Brown scored at the 4:25 mark to give the Dogs a 5-4 lead. They went on to lead 12-8 at the close of the opening quarter.

The Bulldogs continued to pull away in the second frame as they doubled up the Pirates at 20-10 when Morgan Kluchar scored with 4:42 remaining in the first half. But the Pirates closed out the half with a 9-2 run to make it a 3-point game at 22-19 at the intermission.

The Bulldogs seized the momentum at the start of the second half as Brooke Bobby nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to start a 10-2 run en route to building an 11-point, 32-21 lead with only 2:38 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs held a 35-24 lead at the end of the period.

“Brooke is a captain for a reason,” Blanch said about his senor guard igniting the second-half surge. “We need her leadership and she went out and banged a couple of big shots for us in the second half.”

“There was definitely a big pep talk at halftime by coach Blanch,” Brown said. “We needed to play our game, Poland girls basketball. We weren’t giving one hundred percent and that’s what we needed to do. We came out in the third quarter and we played our hardest.”

“We talked about being gladiators,” Blanch said. “There is no letting off the gas and we let off the gas at the end of that second quarter and let our opponent back in it. So we talked about the gladiator approach and being the aggressor and never taking our foot off the pedal.”

The Bulldogs built a game-high 14-point advantage early in the fourth quarter as Jackie Grisdale hit a basket with 5:26 remaining. The Pirates chipped away at the deficit in the final moments of the game, but they got no closer than 10 points with a little over three minutes remaining in the game.