Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – West Branch did a lot of things well in Tuesday’s River Valley Conference South Division rematch with rival West Liberty.

The Bears just didn’t quite do enough to get a win.

West Branch led by five points with under a minute to play but couldn’t hang on falling to West Liberty 62-53 in overtime in an RVC South contest in West Branch.

“I am proud of a lot of things we did tonight,” West Branch coach Justin Liddle said. “It just wasn’t enough.”

West Branch (3-13) had three players in double figures and four players with at least nine points.

The Bears led 11-8 after the opening quarter, had an 8-0 fourth-quarter run and held a 38-32 rebounding edge.

It just wasn’t enough to close out the Comets.

West Liberty scored five points in the final 56 seconds to force overtime and never trailed in the four-minute extra session while completing the season sweep of West Branch.

The Comets won 49-48 on December 20 in West Liberty.

“We just couldn’t find a way to close it down the stretch,” Liddle said. “We couldn’t get stops on the defensive ends and when they got a lead we panicked a little bit and let it slip away from us.”

West Liberty (7-9) had three players account for 61 of its 62 points.

Freshman Kylee Daufeldt and senior Pearson Hall each had 23 points and Sully Hall added 15 for the Comets.

Daufeldt gave West Liberty the lead for good with her fourth 3-pointer of the game 12 seconds into overtime as the Comets outscored West Branch 11-2 in the extra period.

West Liberty finished 9-of-22 from 3-point range including 5-of-12 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“They made a ton of threes,” Liddle said. “They had a really good shooting night and we had an average to below average shooting night which also was part of the difference in the game.

West Branch got off to a strong start.

Kennedy Simpson had a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers as West Branch led 11-8 after the opening quarter.

Simpson had 13 of her team-high 17 points in the first half as West Branch trailed 24-23 at the break.

West Liberty took its biggest lead of the game at 43-37 on a Daufeldt 3-pointer with 6:32 remaining but West Branch responded.

The Bears scored the next six points to pull even at 43 and after Daufeldt gave the Comets the lead with another 3-pointer West Branch rattled off an 8-0 run capped by an Alyssa Pierce conventional 3-point play with 1:05 remaining.

“We are able to go on runs and be confident at times we just have to be more consistent,” Liddle said. “I thought we executed our set plays really well on offense. Late in the game I thought we did a better job of selecting good shots and being aggressive getting to the baskets.”

Sully Hall hit a corner 3-pointer to cut the lead to two and Pearson Hall tied the game with a driving layup with 27 seconds remaining that forced overtime.

Daufeldt hit the early 3-pointer in the extra session and the Comets made 4-of-5 free throws down the stretch.

Pierce and Addi Schultes each had 10 points for West Branch while Ava Burnett made three 3-pointers and finished with nine points and eight rebounds.

Lexi Skay had six points and nine rebounds for the Bears.

West Liberty              8   16  13  14  11  –  62

West Branch              11  12  10  18   2   –  53          

West Liberty (62) – Sully Hall 5-14 1-1 15, Pearson Hall 9-17 4-7 23, Kylee Daufeldt 8-19 3-3 23, Grace Schneider 0-2 0-0 0, Porter Maurer 0-5 0-0 0, Emmee Wiele 0-4 0-0 0, Mallory Wulf 0-0 1-2 1, Totals 22-61 9-13 62.

West Branch (53) – Katelyn Essington 0-2 0-0 0, Lexi Skay 2-8 2-2 6, Kennedy Simpson 4-11 7-8 17, Ava Burnett 3-5 0-0 9, Alyssa Pierce 4-7 2-3 10, Addi Schultes 3-9 4-8 10, Sulli Bucknell 0-1 1-2 1, Totals 16-43 16-23 53.

3-point field goals – West Liberty 9-22 (S. Hall 4-7, P. Hall 1-2, Schneider 0-1, Daufeldt 4-9, Maurer 0-1, Wiele 0-2), West Branch 5-15 (Essington 0-2, Simpson 2-4, Skay 0-2, Schultes 0-1, Burnett 3-5, Bucknell 0-1). Rebounds – West Liberty 32 (S. Hall 6, P. Hall 6, Daufeldt 6), West Branch 38 (Skay 9). Total fouls – West Liberty 21, West Branch 14. Turnovers – West Liberty 7, West Branch 19. Fouled out – West Liberty (Daufeldt, Wulf), West Branch (Pierce). Technical fouls – West Liberty (P. Hall)

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