LOVELAND — Survive and advance. At this time of year, that’s what a team wants to do.

And the Wilmington High School girls basketball team pulled that off Tuesday with a 31-30 win over Indian Hill in a Division II Sectional matchup at Loveland High School.

Miya Nance gave Wilmington the win by making the final point of the night from the free throw line in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter.

“Win and move on,” WHS head coach Zach Williams said after the game.

It wasn’t pretty offensively for either team. Wilmington had 25 turnovers while Indian Hill had 15 turnovers and made 11 of 46 field goal attempts, including just 2 of 17 beyond the arc.

“They pulled it out,” Williams said. “Every girl that played had big minutes somewhere.”

Wilmington (12-10) is scheduled to play again 5:30 p.m. Feb. 20 against Roger Bacon at Indian Hill in the second round of the tournament.

Based on seeding, Indian Hill was 6 coming in to the tournament while Wilmington was 8 and Roger Bacon 9.

The Braves ended the Hurricane season last year with a 48-41 win in the second round of the tournament.

Miya Nance had 9 points, 7 in the second half. She also had 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists. Addison Martin had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.

Williams said several players on the team are dealing with sickness but persevered.

“Elle played her butt off … Miya played through some sickness,” said Williams. “The cold thing is going around, it’s the end of the season and they battled through.”

WHS led 4-2 after quarter. Indian Hill didn’t score its first points until the 2:26 mark of the opening period. It was 11-11 at halftime. The Braves forged the tie on Stella Bosley’s basket at the buzzer.

Williams said his halftime speech went something like this.

“The good news is you held them to 11 points,” he said. “The bad news is they held you to 11 points.”

Williams said the Hurricane became more active in the third on offense while maintaining the pressure defensively.

“Our pressure hurt them,” he said. “We would rather rely on our defense, it’s something we pride ourselves with in this program. You’re not going to shoot it well every night but you can defend well every night.”

Indian Hill took its only lead, 25-24, early in the fourth quarter by scoring 7 unanswered points. Aidynne Tippett and Nance had baskets to get the Hurricane back on top. The Braves scored 5 straight points and tied the game at 30 with 2:17 to play.

After the teams went 5 consecutive possessions with turnovers, Nance came up with a steal as Indian Hill was trying to run the clock for the final shot. She made 1 of 2 free throws with 17.3 seconds to go as the Hurricane was able to survive and advance.

SUMMARY

Feb 13, 2024

Division II Sectional

@Loveland High School

Wilmington 31 Indian Hill 30

W^4^7^13^7^^31

IH^4^7^11^8^^30

(31) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp)

(30) INDIAN HILL (fg-3fg-ft-tp)

FIELD GOALS: WIL (10-25) E Martin 2-3 A Martin 2-5 Bayless 2-5; IH (11-46)

3 PT FIELD GOALS: WIL (2-8) A Martin 1-2 Nance 1-2; IH (2-17)

FREE THROWS: WIL (9-14) A Martin 2-2 Nance 3-4; IH (6-10)

REBOUNDS: WIL-25 (Nance 7 Walker 4 Hudson 4 A Martin 3 E Martin 3 Bayless 1); IH-27 (Bosley 7 Spurrier 5)

ASSISTS: WIL-2 (Nance 2); IH-3

STEALS: WIL-8 (A Martin 3 Nance 2 E Martin 1 Hudson 1 Bayless 1); IH-13

BLOCKED SHOTS: WIL-3 (Nance 1 Walker 1 Hudson 1); IH-0

TURNOVERS: WIL-25; IH-15