ASHLAND — Kylie Belcher and her Clear Fork teammates ratcheted up the defense Thursday night.
The third-seeded Colts limited No. 7 Mansfield Senior to 32-percent shooting and held on for a 48-38 win in the Division II district semifinals at Arrow Arena.
Clear Fork (21-4) will play top-seeded Shelby (25-0) for a district title and a berth in next week’s Sweet 16 at 4 p.m. Saturday in Ashland. The Whippets held off Sandusky Perkins 56-52 in Thursday’s early game to advance.
The Tygers (16-8) were riding high after Monday’s impressive 66-38 win over second-seeded Bellevue in the sectional finals. Senior High scored 29 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Lady Red, but couldn’t get anything going against Clear Fork’s stingy defense.
Belcher drew the unenviable assignment of face-guarding Senior High’s Kiersten Bradley, a high-scoring sophomore shooting guard. Bradley, who scored 20 points against Bellevue, was limited to six points Thursday.
“I just knew that she was a good player and I just needed to do the best that I could,” Belcher said. “When she doesn’t have the ball, just be right up in her (face) and keep her in front of me. When she has it give her space because she’s good at driving.
“Our defense today was just the best that it has been all season.”
A 5-foot-7 sophomore, Belcher is no stranger to tough defensive assignments.
“She’s done that all year,” Clear Fork coach Scott Sellers said. “I always give her the best player on the other team when we play that type of man. Tonight she was just gritty.
“She was special tonight.”
While Belcher was locking it down at the defensive end of the floor, 6-foot-4 center Bekah Conrad was lighting it up on the offensive end. The senior scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
“She’s having fun and she’s just really playing well,” Sellers said. “She’s playing like a senior and she’s playing like the leader she is.”
Clear Fork led 11-8 after the first quarter and 17-10 at the half. The Colts pushed the advantage to 33-20 going to the fourth before Senior High made its final stand. The Tygers trimmed the deficit to 44-38 on Juleah Windham’s second 3-pointer of the period with 2:12 remaining. That’s as close as the Tygers would get, however, as Clear Fork closed the game on a 4-0 run.
“We started off and we were real sluggish,” Senior High coach JeVar Hudgens said. “We just couldn’t hit a shot.”
Monetta Hilory led Senior High with 17 points. Ahmani Mitchell had eight while Bradley and Windham each had six.
Annika Labaki backed Conrad with eight points. Pacey Chrastina added six while Belcher and Lilly Wortman chipped in with five points apiece.
