Two of Northeast Ohio’s top freshmen, West Branch’s Madi Hoopes and Gilmour’s Annie Sullivan, meet in Wednesday’s regional semifinal. (Morning Journal/Gary Leininger)

CANTON — West Branch’s girls basketball team combined a smothering defensive performance with a consistent offensive attack to punch its ticket to the Elite 8 following a 45-32 Division IV regional semifinal triumph over Gilmour Academy at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse Wednesday night.

“Our team is a team,” said West Branch coach Walt DeShields. “We’re very confident in each other, they trust each other, and that’s what you’ve got to do at this point of the season. You’ve got to trust your coaches and trust each other, and play for each other, and I thought they did that. They don’t care who’s scoring right now or who’s getting their name in the paper and getting interviewed, they’re really just all about trying to win a game and move on.”

The win vaults fourth-seeded West Branch (23-3) into the Division IV regional championship game against the top-seeded Laurel Gators (19-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Canton Field House. Laurel, a state semifinalist last year, advanced Wednesday with a 52-30 win over the Elyria Catholic Panthers.

It marks the first time West Branch has advanced to the regional title game since the 2019-2020 season when the Warriors beat Laurel 41-37 in the regional championship to advance to the state tournament. The state tourney was canceled by Covid with the Warriors actually on the floor taking warmups in Columbus.

“We beat Laurel to go (to state) the Covid year,” said DeShields. “These girls have come back hungry this year to prove something. They got that district title (last week) but they’re not satisfied. We came here in the Sweet 16 and now in the Elite 8 and they’re hungry to go to Dayton (site of this year’s state tourney). We had that chance in 2020 (at the state tournament) and they pulled us off the floor, so maybe they’re playing for those girls that didn’t get a chance to win that state title.”

Wednesday’s game featured a matchup of two of Northeastern Ohio’s premier freshman standouts in West Branch’s 6-foot-1 Madi Hoopes and Gilmour Academy’s 6-foot-2 Annie Sullivan.

Hoopes took game-scoring honors with 21 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots, while Sullivan led the Lancers with 17 points.

“That’s always fun to watch for the fans and even for us as coaches,” said DeShields of the two freshman stars battling things out. “They’ve got a freshman that’s going to be a great player and we’ve got a great freshman too. To see them go at it is fun to watch.”

“It (going to the regional final) feels amazing,” said Hoopes. “We’re going to show up on Saturday, play our best, and hopefully, keep going.”

Complementing Hoopes in the scoring column was senior Hallie Vie Burton, who had an outstanding overall game with 10 points, including two three-pointers and several key rebounds. Guard Audrey Eaton added six points, including two clutch treys.

After having eight first-quarter turnovers and spotting Gilmour Academy (13-13) an 11-6 first-quarter lead, the Warriors’ defense denied the Lancers inside, forcing them out on the perimeter from the second quarter on and Gimour struggled. The Warriors also had a big offensive quarter, outscoring the Lancers 15-4 in the frame to take a 21-15 lead at the break.

“They were trying to speed us up in the first half, so we just had to try to keep the ball under control,” said Hoopes, who already has a collegiate offer from Youngstown State as a freshman. “We just had to settle down and play our game.”

The trend continued in the third quarter as the Warriors outscored the Lancers 15-6 to take a commanding 15 point (36-21) lead after guard Alli Kanagy’s layup near the end of the frame.

“When we came out in the third quarter, they came out and made some shots and we called a timeout and we basically said, hey, listen we still have to push the ball, they’re getting tired,” said DeShields. “We’ve got to make those layups and the game’s over, so we adjusted to that and we spread the floor a little bit on them and made them run after us and we got some easy shots.”

The Warriors maintained a nine-to 14-point advantage for much of the fourth quarter and DeShields pulled his starters with West Branch up 43-29 with just under a minute left.

“The most important thing we said was let’s try to keep our offense for more than 10 seconds,” said Hoopes. “Just keep them moving and tire them out and then their shots won’t fall. They’ll be tired and their shots will be short.”

“I thought just settling in on offense and pushing the ball down the floor (was key),” said DeShields. “I thought we got them a little bit tired there late in the third quarter. You could see the game going our way and you could see the separation then.”

“They (the team) all played well, offensively and defensively,” said DeShields. “We’ve got girls that want to dig in (on defense). They know at that end of the floor they want to play defense. They work together, they really study the strengths and weaknesses of what teams do and they know it’s important to them.”

DeShields knows his team will give 100 percent in Saturday’s regional title game.

“I know our seniors especially, but our underclassmen don’t want to see the season end too,” he said. “When you’ve got a team like that that doesn’t want to see the season be over, you’ve got something pretty special.”

GA: 11-4-6-11–32

WB: 6-15-15-9–45

GILMOUR ACADEMY SCORING: Annie Sullivan 7-1-17, Aniyah Adams 0-0-0, Ava Gundling 1-0-3, Anaya Domanski 3-0-7, Brooke Leady 0-0-0, Morgan Pfundstein 2-0-5, Brandi Paige 0-0-0, Celia Duffy 0-0-0, Aubrey Tarranova 0-0-0, Brooklyn Lane 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 13, 1-2: 32.

WEST BRANCH SCORING: Isis Nezbeth 0-0-0, Elli Colian 0-0-0, Alli Kanagy 1-0-2, Alinee Bacconi 1-0-2, Madi Hoopes 9-3-21, Carly Loper 0-0-0, Sydney Lane 0-0-0, Sammi Beatty 0-0-0, Tallie Muniz 2-0-4, Hallie Vie Burton 3-2-10, Audrey Eaton 2-0-6, Ciera Evans 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 18, 5-7: 45.

Three-point goals: Gilmour Academy 5 (Annie Sullivan 2, Ava Gundling 1, Aniya Adams 1, Morgan Pfundstein 1); West Branch 4 (Audrey Eaton 2, Hallie Vie Burton 2).

Total fouls: Gilmour Academy 11, West Branch 6. Fouled out: none.