DAYTON — West Liberty-Salem simply could not figure out a way to stop Waynesville junior guard Leah Butterbaugh here Monday.
Butterbaugh drilled three early three-pointers to vault the Spartans to a fast start.
After the Tigers went to a zone defense, Butterbaugh then sliced her way to the basket for a flurry of points in the paint. She finished with a game-high 22 points in Waynesville’s 43-30 win in a Division III sectional girls basketball final.
“She is really tough to defend,” said WL-Salem head coach Dennis McIntosh of Butterbaugh. “We started in a zone thinking that was our best bet, but she came out and hit three NBA-range threes, so we had to come out of it. Then, we struggled at times stopping her penetration. To stop her, you need a 5-10 girl that as quick as she is, and not too many teams have that.”
Led by Butterbaugh’s hot shooting, the Spartans jumped out to a 16-7 lead after the opening quarter.
Waynesville (16-8) led by as many as 14 in the second period and went to the locker room with a 13-point advantage at 27-14.
The Tigers came out energized in the third quarter. Employing some full-court pressure, they were able to confuse the Spartans and put together a 9-4 run to close within eight (31-23) going into the final stanza.
“We went to the press to speed them up, and we were able to force some turnovers,” said McIntosh.
WL-Salem cut its deficit to seven on two different occasions in the fourth quarter, the latest at 37-30 with 3:26 remaining.
But the Tigers were unable to score again and the Spartans pulled away with numerous trips to the free-throw line.
“We had a great third quarter, but they were just a little more physical than we were inside and took us out of what we wanted to do,” said McIntosh.
Sophomore guard Emily Hollar paced the Tigers with 13 points. Grace Estes had seven and Kayla Cole added five points.
Carli Brown added 11 points for the Spartans, who advance to face Cincinnati Purcell Marian in the district finals on Saturday.
The Tigers finish the season with a record of 18-7. It was difficult for McIntosh to be disappointed after the game, knowing he will have his entire team back next year.
“Normally, you are not standing here not having to say good bye to anybody,” he said.
“We just talked about taking a little time off, and then getting together to lay out some goals. Hopefully, we can be better next year.”