Waterford's Avery Wagner (30) makes a move with the ball as Marietta's Braxtyn Kroft, left, and Alyssa Baker defend during Tuesday's game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Tuesday night’s showdown between Waterford and Marietta at Sutton Gymnasium wasn’t even on the slate at the beginning of the season.

With both teams finding an open spot on their schedule late in the season, they agreed to play one another as a final tune-up for the postseason.

In front of a jammed packed crowd, the Wildcats chalked up yet another huge win in a season full of them as they never trailed en route to a 49-41 win to hand the Tigers their first loss of the season.

The Wildcats came out smoking early on as they connected on four three-pointers in the opening quarter to jump out to a 16-4 lead.

Waterford freshman Brynnlee Pottmeyer got things started by dropping a triple and senior post player Avery Wagner followed suit by draining one of her own to give the visitors an early 6-0 lead.

Waterford's Avery Wagner (30) contests a shot by Marietta's Leigha Lauer (4) during Tuesday's game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Marietta got on the board with back-to-back buckets by Leigha Lauer and Braxtyn Kroft before the Wildcats got hot once again.

Pottmeyer’s second three-pointer of the first period made it 11-4 and sophomore Ava Hurley got in on the act with a three-pointer to give the Lady ‘Cats a double-digit lead.

Wagner closed out the quarter with a two-pointer to increase the lead to a dozen.

Many may have expected the Tigers to be the ones to come out firing but they came up empty in the first quarter from long range while the Wildcats knocked down 4-of-5 three-point attempts.

“We came out making our shots and defensively we did a great job of not letting them get many open looks,” said Waterford head coach Jerry Close. “It was a great team effort tonight.”

The Tiger showed some life early in the second period as after Lauer and Waterford senior Avery Smithberger traded two-pointers, Tiger senior Alyssa Baker drained Marietta’s first three-pointer of the game.

Marietta managed to trim the lead to five with less than three minutes to play but another triple by Hurley followed by a steal and finish at the other end by Pottmeyer pushed the Waterford lead back to 10.

Lauer closed out the half with a two-pointer to send the Tigers to the intermission trailing by eight.

Midway through the third quarter the Tigers cut the lead back to five on a three-point play by Kroft but the Wildcats finished the quarter on a 7-2 run to open up a 37-27 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

The Tigers hopes of a fourth-quarter comeback were squashed in a hurry as the Wildcats not only managed to break the Tiger press but they were able to get easy buckets at the other end.

Kendall Sury opened the quarter by scoring her first two points of the game and Elsie Malec followed by scoring back-to-back buckets both with an assist from Pottmeyer to give the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game at 43-27.

The usually sharp-shooting Tigers had plenty of open looks in the final quarter to make a run but they just couldn’t seem to get anything to fall.

“We just couldn’t get our shots to go in tonight and a lot of stuff we went over yesterday we didn’t come out and execute tonight,” said Tiger head coach Ryan McClain. “Sometimes you need a little bit of humbling to reset us on the track so we will go to the lab and work on things the next couple of days and be ready on Saturday.”

Marietta shot just over 30 percent from the floor (15-of-49) while making just 4-of-16 from behind the arc.

Pottmeyer ended up leading the way for the Wildcats with 16 points while also contributing five boards, three steals and three assists.

“We’ve been waiting on that all year. She has gotten better from game one,” said Close of his freshman. “Every game she has just got a little bit better and tonight she was the one that was open and had the hot hand and we got the ball to her.”

Wagner came up just two block shots from recording a rare triple-double for Waterford.

The 6-foot-4 senior, who will play at the collegiate level next year at Division I Purdue Fort Wayne, blocked eight Tiger shots while scoring 11 points and hauling down a game-high 15 boards.

“Her defensive presence is outstanding and she helps us break the press, just whatever we need,” said Close of Wagner. “She does a great job of getting us where we need to be.”

Waterford has played as tough of a schedule as anyone in the area in an attempt to be battle-tested as they set their sights on a potential third state championship in the last eight years.

The Wildcats have beaten 11 teams who have won 14 or more games on the season and have reeled off 11 consecutive wins.

“That’s another good win. We have won 21 this year and played a hell of a tough schedule,” said Close, whose team finishes the regular season 21-1.

“I’m glad we were able to get this game in…. I think it was great for the community and I think it will help both teams in the tournament.”

While the loss was no doubt a disappointing one for the Lady Tigers as they had hoped to complete a perfect regular season, McClain hopes the experience will go a long way as they open up tournament play on Saturday.

“You either win or learn and we are going to learn from this one,” said McClain. “We are excited for the opportunity we have and now it’s time to go make a tournament run.”

Lauer led the way for the Tigers with 18 points and eight boards while Kroft and Baker added seven apiece.

Ironically, the Tigers may very well play Sheridan in the district quarterfinal Saturday at home, the same team that handed the Wildcats their only loss of the season.

“Hat’s off to Waterford, they hit some big threes and you’ve just got to congratulate them because they played well,” said McClain. “We’ve got some little things that we need to clean up and we need to execute better for sure.”

Waterford will begin their postseason run on Monday when they play the winner of the Portsmouth Clay-New Boston Glenwood game at Wellston High School.