Photo by TRAVIS DAVID | North Central's Jalyn Davidson drives towards the hoop against Shakamak during Friday night's sectional semifinal. Davidson became the Ladybirds' all-time leading scorer during the game.

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BY TRAVIS DAVID

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CLAY CITY — And then there was just one.

Entering the semi-final round of the Class 1A Clay City Sectional Friday night, three PressBox812 Sports-area teams remained standing. 

Only North Central survived. 

In a battle of area teams, the No. 3 ranked Ladybirds upended Shakamak while Dugger Union fell to No. 13 White River Valley to start the night.

In North Central’s 50-34 win, the Ladybirds improved to 22-3 on the season and avenged a regular-season loss to the Lakers.

“We didn’t talk much about that loss (before tonight),” North Central senior guard Jalyn Davidson said. “But we all knew what happened and we knew what we needed to do to get the job done tonight.”

Davidson was a big reason why the Ladybirds will be playing in their seventh straight sectional title game. The senior tallied a game-high 25 points in the win. Her final point of the night — on a free throw with 2:44 — left on the clock — made her the Ladybirds’ all-time leading scorer. She entered the game 24 points shy of tying her older sister, Averi, for the top spot which is also tops among players in Sullivan County history.

Unlike most record-breaking moments, play was not stopped and there was no celebration to follow.

“What record?” the humble senior said when asked about what it meant to her after the game. “I didn’t know I broke it but that is exciting.”

The older Davidson had a front-row seat to her record being broken as Averi is an assistant coach on the team. The youngest Davidson noted there probably wouldn’t be any trash talk on the ride home.

“She knew it was coming,” Jalyn said with a laugh. “But it is neat to keep it in the family.”

Despite the record-breaking performance, it was not great for the Lakers. Just two minutes into the second quarter, senior Elayni Stone was injured on a play for a loose ball near midcourt. Stone had to be helped off the court by athletic training staff on site. Although she returned to the Lakers’ bench near the end of the quarter, the senior did not return to the game. Stone is believed to have torn her ACL.

Shakamak trailed by just two points, 15-13, at the time of the injury.

“Not to make any excuses, but that is tough to overcome,” first-year Lakers’ coach Brock Dowell said of the injury to the heart and soul of the team. “She does so much for us on both ends of the court, so that was a huge loss. But I thought other girls did a good job of stepping up the rest of the game.”

Before Stone left the game, the Lakers had the upper hand throughout most of the first quarter. Aubree Langford knocked down a pair of three-pointers and two other jump shots in part of a 10-point opening quarter. Behind the lefty’s hot shooting, Shakamak led 13-8 with just under two minutes left in the first. 

“We wanted to make sure Stone and (Madelyn) Kennett didn’t hurt us too much but we also didn’t want to leave Langford open either,” North Central coach Joey Davidson said of the Lakers’ junior. “She is a good shooter … we lost her a couple of times and she made us pay there in the first quarter.”

North Central scored the last three points of the opening frame before scoring the first 12 points of the second to take control of the game. Davidson netted 11 of those 15 straight points.

“I think we just needed to see the ball go through the hoop a couple of times,” the Ladybirds’ coach said of his teams’ response to the slow start.

North Central led 34-19 at the break and 40-24 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Threes from Kennett and Langford sparked an 8-2 run for the Lakers to start the fourth, pulling to within 42-32 with just over six minutes left on the clock.

But North Central closed out the game on an 8-2 run of its own.

“We felt like we were in a good spot when we cut it to 10 points,” Dowell said of the fourth-quarter charge. “But then Davidson hit a couple of shots and we could not recover.”

Langford paced the Lakers with 17 points and pulled down four rebounds, while Kennett (8), Clara Barber (4) and Blanca Hernandez (4) combined for 16 points in the loss.

Stone connected on one free throw in addition to four rebounds and three assists before leaving the game.

North Central wrapped up a 13-12 season for its third straight winning campaign.

“I am proud of all of the girls this season,” Dowell said of his first year. “We added some more competitive teams to our schedule this year and I think that helped. These girls have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Shelby Seay, who scored 26 points in the sectional opener against Bloomfield, added 13 points, six rebounds and three steals in the win while Maycie Dreiman and Hannah Stepp both chipped in with five points. Dreiman also pulled down five boards.

The Ladybirds will face White River Valley in Saturday night’s title game. The Wolverines ended Dugger Union’s seasons with a 65-23 romp in Friday night’s first semifinal.

The Bulldogs missed their first 13 shots from the field in addition to six missed free throws in falling in a 19-0 hole.

Cori Pearison ended the Bulldogs’ shooting woes with a triple from the wing in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter.

The freshman added a second bucket later in the game to finish with five points and pulled down seven rebounds in the loss.

WRV, who finished the regular season ranked No. 13 in the state polls, led 19-3 after one and carried a commanding 43-12 lead into the locker room.

The Wolverines were led by Brynna Walton with a game-high 26 points. The senior recorded her 1,000th career point on a free throw with 5:23 left in the game.

Izzy Avila recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds in the win.

Dugger Union was led by Jordyn Smith’s 11 points. The senior, who tallied 25 points in the Bulldogs’ sectional win Tuesday, also pulled down seven boards in her final game.

Jalee Brumbarger added six points and six rebounds in the loss.

Dugger Union finished the season with a 7-16 record.

Saturday night’s title game between North Central (22-3) and the Wolverines (18-5) is set to commence at 7 p.m. inside the Eel Dome. 

Thanks to Union Station Deli for the sponsorship of this story