Caldwell’s Breighlee Moracco (4) goes up for a shot as Frontier’s Keeley Barrows (1) defends during Wednesday’s district semifinal basketball game at the ECO Center. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Make no mistake about it Wednesday evening’s 41-26 win over the Frontier Cougars in an OHSAA Division VII District Semifinal at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville wasn’t the prettiest win of the season for the Caldwell Redskins.

Fortunately all that matters in the tournament is surviving and advancing and the Lady Redskins accomplished both as they held off a third quarter Frontier rally and then pulled away in the final quarter to capture their 19th win of the season and punch their ticket to the District Final on Saturday afternoon.

“We knew coming into the game that Frontier had been playing really well and it was going to be a physical game,” said first-year Caldwell head coach Heather Saliba. “The biggest thing was we were able to hang on after their run and make some key shots and execute pretty well and find a way to win.”

Caldwell opened up a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter led by five points by Breighlee Moracco and four by Camy Crock.

A basket by Frontier senior Anna Bowersock had closed an early Caldwell lead to four late in the first period before a two-pointer by Crock and a three-pointer from Laynie Sidwell gave the Redskins a 15-6 lead.

Frontier’s Ella Cisler (23) goes up for a shot as Caldwell’s Mea Hendershot (23) defends during Wednesday’s district semifinal basketball game at the ECO Center. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

That lead would swell to as many as 15 in the second quarter thanks to a 6-0 run kicked off by a three-pointer from senior Lexi Franklin.

The Cougars finally stopped what turned out to be an 11-0 Caldwell run when sophomore Willow Smitley connected from long range.

A bucket by freshman Addison Edgar got the Cougars two-points closer and after Moracco answered with a two-pointer of her own, Edgar scored again to cut the Caldwell lead to 23-13.

Just before the end of the first half the Cougars suffered a huge loss when Bowersock went down with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury forcing her to be helped off the court and unable to return the rest of the way.

Bowersock has meant so much to the Cougars program over her four years according to Frontier head coach Mike Cisler.

“She (Bowersock) had a great senior season and she has been our leader over the last three years,” said Cisler. “I’m just proud of all the work that she put into it. It was tough to see her go down like that.”

The odds seemed stacked against the Cougars as they began the second half without their best player while staring at a double-digit deficit.

Instead of crumbling under the pressure the Cougar girls instead rallied and made quite a run in the third quarter.

Smitley got things started by converting an old-fashioned three-point play but Caldwell responded with a free throw by Moracco and a three-pointer by freshman Mea Hendershot to extend their lead back to 11.

Another field goal by Smitley closed the lead back to nine and after another free throw by Moracco, the Cougars scored six consecutive points to close the lead to just three at 28-25.

Smitley made a pair of free throws and another field goal before Edgar drove strong to the basket and scored with the left handed to bring the Cougars to within one possession of tying the game.

Hendershot delivered a huge two-pointer to close out the third quarter for Caldwell giving them a five-point cushion heading to the final quarter.

Unfortunately the Cougars simply seemed to run out of gas in the final quarter as Caldwell out-pointed them 11-1 in the final eight minutes to pull away to the 15-point win.

“I really think we used up so much energy to make that run in the third quarter especially on such a big court,” said Cisler. “We didn’t quit and that says a lot about the team we had this year and the one we will have next year.”

Moracco led a very balanced Caldwell attack with 11 points while Hendershot and Crock finished with nine and eight points respectively.

The Redskins have a whole bunch of weapons and that’s one of the reasons that they have been able to post a 19-6 record this season.

“That’s kind of the way it’s been all season-we don’t have anyone that’s really dominant,” said Saliba. “When you have five or six girls that can score double-digits any given night it makes us really hard to defend.”

Smitley led the way for the Cougars with a game-high 13 points including nine in the third quarter while Edgar added nine.

“I thought (Willow) Smitley did a really nice job especially in the third quarter,” said Cisler. “I told them at halftime with Anna (Bowersock) being out, someone was going to have to step up and she (Smitley) did in a big way.”

The Cougars’ season comes to a close with a 13-11 record as they were forced to say goodbye to their three seniors, Bowersock, Keeley Barrows and Ella Cisler.

Caldwell will face their toughest challenge yet on Saturday when they travel to New Philadelphia (1 p.m.) to take on top-seeded Strasburg Franklin with a district title on the line.

“It’s the first time that we have made it this far in a long time so the girls are really pumped,” said Saliba. “They are a very good team so we have got a lot of work to do over these next few days to get ready for them.”