Salem's Abby Knickerbocker brings the ball up the court against Field's Ali Church in sectional play Thursday. (Morning Journal/Ron Firth)

SALEM — Salem’s girls basketball team knew the reward for winning its opening round Div. IV sectional contest on Thursday was a third meeting with rival West Branch.

It got the job done.

The No. 21 seed Quakers used a stellar defensive effort combined with junior Abby Knickbocker’s 22 points and seven rebounds to upend No. 22 Mogadore Field 55-30.

“It’s really exciting,” Knickerbocker said. “They’re our rivals. It’s always a great game whenever we play them.”

No. 4 seed West Branch did its job on Thursday as well as it scored a 63-9 win over No. 34 seed Akron East in a sectional contest. The Quakers (13-10) and Warriors (19-3) will tip at 7 p.m. Tuesday at West Branch.

Salem coach Matt Mowery said the plan was not to jump into West Branch’s side of the bracket. Other factors forced his hand.

“We could have went to Laurel which was one of the best teams in the state,” Mowery said. “We could have went to Northwest who is third in the state or Lutheran East. Those three schools I didn’t want to have any part of.”

It will be the sixth time in the last two seasons West Branch and Salem played. The Warriors have won the last seven matchups with Salem’s last win coming by way of a 43-29 victory on Feb. 1, 2023, at West Branch.

“We didn’t have the best options (in the draw) but we knew we could play with West Branch,” Mowery said. “We know them, they know us. It’s a chance for us to go do something that will be a memory forever.”

Salem senior point guard Karlie Sampson had six points, six assists and four rebound in the rout. She said she’s ready for the Warriors again.

“It’s our sixth time in two years like our coach said,” Sampson said. “We’ve got to get it done this time.”

West Branch beat Salem 41-22 on Jan. 7 and 46-34 on Jan. 31.

“It’s going to take the exact same excitement and determination that we had tonight,” Sampson said. “It’s going to take all our us working together, making our shots and pumping each other up.”

Knickerbocker illustrated her ability to put up big points in short time frame when she tallied 14 points alone in the third quarter against the Falcons.

“Something just switched in my brain,” Knickerbocker said. “I just wanted to get out there and do my best and play my game.”

Mowery said the Quakers’ leading scorer is starting to come into her own.

“We hit a bump in the road in the middle of the season where she got (rolled her ankle),” Mowery said. “She wasn’t herself and missed three games. She had a three or four game stretch where she was still kind of coming back from it. The last two or three weeks she’s been Abby. We’re looking forward to having her at full strength versus West Branch. The second time we played them she was not at full strength. That’s going to be a huge thing for us on Tuesday.”

Against Field (11-12), the Quakers showed a defensive effort that will be needed against West Branch. The Falcons didn’t hit their first basket until their was 3:12 left in the first quarter. Field led briefly at 10-9 near the end of the first quarter before the Quaker defense limited the Falcons to one point in the second quarter. The next Falcon field goal didn’t come until 2:10 left in the third quarter with the Quakers up 39-18.

“Defense is always something we work on and what we care about the most,” Sampson said. “Defense wins games.”

The Quakers had offensive bursts all over the roster against the Falcons. Ava Lee hit two big threes in the first quarter to set the pace, while Peyton Colbert was solid in her role with nine points, four rebounds and two assists. Maddy Andres was also a stalwart in the backcourt with five points, four rebounds and two assists.

Game notes

• Mowery said he is really hopeful Salem joins the Northeast 8 after the Eastern Buckeye Conference announced three defections on Friday.

“I love it,” Mowery said. “The fact that it is happening now is great. I wish it would have happened a long time ago. It’s the same way (Salem boys coach Jeff) Andres was thinking. We’re Salem guys. We grew up against all those teams in the Northeast 8. Those teams are very similar to us. We have more similarities with the schools in the Northeast 8 than we do in the EBC. It’s not set in stone but I hope it works out.”

F: 10- 1- 9-10–30

S: 12-10-24 9–55

FIELD SCORING: Nema McAmis 1-2-5, Peyton Schock 1-0-2, Rylee Stoicoiu 2-1-6, Aubrey Richmond 1-4-6, Ali Church 1-1-3, Morgan Stoicoiu 2-2-8, Sophia Confer 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 8, 10-18: 30.

SALEM SCORING: Noa Martin 0-0-0, Karlie Sampson 3-0-6, Garyn Rohm 0-0-0, Shae Burkhart 1-2-5, Ava Lee 2-0-6, Peyton Colbert 3-1-9, Abby Knickerbocker 7-8-22, Ryann Vross 0-0-0, Olivia Lewis 0-0-0, Maddy Andres 2-0-5, Emilee Lewis 1-0-2, Chloe Cummings 0-0-0, Maryn McFadden 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 19, 11-18: 55.

Three-point goals: Field 4 (M. Stoicoiu 2, McAmis, R. Stoicoiu), Salem 6 (Colbert 2, Lee 2, Burkhart, Andres).