LEXINGTON — North central Ohio’s lone Division II team still standing is the one nobody was paying attention to.
Ninth-seeded Lexington ran the gauntlet last week, winning a pair of road games to capture its first sectional crown since 2012. Lady Lex upset No. 7 Sandusky Perkins 44-43, then throttled No. 4 Norwalk 59-48 in the sectional championship game.
Lexington has won six of its last seven games, including three in a row. That stretch started with a convincing 53-43 win over Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference champ Shelby in the regular season finale.
Shelby was the No. 3 seed in the Old Fort district, but fell to No. 6 Toledo Central Catholic in the sectional championship game. Top-seeded Mansfield Senior also saw its season come to a premature end with a last-second loss to No. 5 Port Clinton.
Ava Brown, Lexington’s 6-foot-2 center, scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Saturday’s sectional final victory over Norwalk. Cora Palmer added 15 points, while Tatum Stover had 12 points and nine rebounds and Makaree Chapman had 12 points and seven boards.
Next up for Lexington is a district semifinal date against No. 2 seed Bellevue at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Old Fort. Port Clinton and TCC play in the early game.
Division III
Third-seeded Clear Fork won its third straight sectional title with a 60-34 win over No. 9 Huron. The Colts will take on No. 2 Colonel Crawford in the early game of a district semifinal doubleheader at 6 p.m. Thursday at Shelby.
Senior sharpshooter Annika Labaki paced the Colts with 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Brinley Barnett added 12 points, while Lillian Weikle had 11.
Colonel Crawford advanced with a 41-27 win over Bucyrus. Gabby Roston scored a game-high 13 points. She connected on all eight of her free throw attempts in the fourth quarter and was 11-for-12 from the stripe for the game.
Division IV
Top-seeded Loudonville advanced to the Norwayne district semifinals after dispatching No. 37 Youngstown Valley Christian 89-11 in the sectional semifinals. Corri Vermilya led the way with 30 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals. Sydney Strouse added a dozen.
The Redbirds advanced to the district when No. 38 Lordstown withdrew from the tournament. Loudonville would have hosted Lordstown in the sectional final, but instead was credited with a 1-0 forfeit victory.
The Redbirds will play No. 15 Lowellville at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Norwayne.