Staff photo / Brad Emerine West Branch’s Peyton Alazaus, right, scored a game-high 24 points in the Warriors’ victory over Ravenna.

BELOIT — Things couldn’t have gone any worse for the Ravenna High School girls basketball team Thursday night in a Division II sectional bracket final at West Branch.

By virtue of their first-round win over East, the ninth-seeded Ravens had to play at No. 1 West Branch for a spot in the district semifinal Wednesday at Austintown Fitch.

The Warriors, who are led by six seniors, are hungry to capture a district title after losing in a semifinal last season. Plus, they’re putting the pieces together right now.

Senior Hannah Ridgway returned to the lineup after missing the previous five contests with an injury and classmate Peyton Alazaus put up a highlight-reel performance as the Warriors roughed up Ravenna, 55-5.

Alazaus made six 3-pointers and finished with 24 points in less than three quarters and Ridgway scored seven points in limited action.

“Hannah Ridgway was a tremendous player for us as a sophomore and hurt her knee last year,” coach Walt DeShields said.

“This year, she’s our second-leading scorer and is our leading rebounder We were excited to see her back on the floor. She got some points and rebounds, but we limited her minutes. She’s a dynamic player for us and will get another week of practice before we play again.”

Alazaus made four of her 3-pointers and totaled 14 points in the first quarter when the Warriors bolted to a 21-0 lead.

“It’s a great feeling when you have the confidence every shot is going in, and then it seems to,” said Alazaus, who made seven 3-pointers in a game last season. “I always have the confidence that I’m going to make it, even if I miss a few in a row. You have to believe in yourself and trust that the work you put in will pay off.”

Alazaus finished 6-for-8 from distance and the team was 11-for-21, as Anna Lippiatt made a trio of 3s to account for her nine points. Jillian Pigeon and Bella Laut also made a 3-pointer apiece.

“We shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter,” DeShields said. “In tournament time, you’ve got to be able to shoot from the perimeter and play great defense and we did both tonight. Everyone talks about Peyton, and rightfully so when she shoots it like she did tonight, but we’ve got a lot of good shooters.

“I thought for the most part, we played very, very well defensively. I was very pleased with all of the girls because we didn’t let up defensively, even with a running clock. We sat down, played defense, got into our rotations, got into the gaps and contested all their shots.”

Ravenna got on the scoreboard when Anna Jones made a bucket with 4:52 to go before halftime. But the Ravens didn’t score again until Emily Ervin made one of two free throws with 3:17 left in the game to make the score 55-3. Ervin added a basket for the game’s final points with 1:56 remaining.

“We truly didn’t expect that lopsided of a game,” DeShields said. “Ravenna came in with a 12-11 record and finished third in their league. I think their confidence went down after they missed some early shots and we ran out on them like we did. We actually missed a couple early ones, but once we settled in and made some shots, our confidence grew as a team.”

West Branch, which led 37-2 at halftime and 51-2 entering the fourth period, got a strong floor game from senior point guard Carly Scarpitti.

“Carly is a great leader who does whatever we need her to do in every game,” DeShields said. “Sometimes she scores, sometimes she just gets others involved. She had a good all-around game tonight with six rebounds, five steals and four assists. She may have only scored two points, but she contributed in every way she can, and that’s what she does.”

The Warriors, who improved to 20-3 to secure the program’s 15th 20-win season, will play Salem in the district semifinal that begins at 7:45 p.m. It will make the third meeting between the Eastern Buckeye Conference rivals. West Branch won both meetings, 47-44 on Jan. 4 and 50-42 on Feb. 5. The fourth-seeded Quakers will enter the game 15-9 after beating fifth-seeded Cardinal Mooney 50-47 in a sectional bracket final Thursday night.