Next stop: Dayton

ELIDA - New Knoxville grabbed an early lead, hung on for dear life, and came away with a trip to the state tournament.

The Rangers led by 10 early before Toledo Christian closed the gap, getting within one at the start of the fourth but never quite catching up. New Knoxville got just enough buckets and hit free throws down the stretch to secure a 49-43 victory in the Division IV girls basketball regional final at Elida on Saturday, earning its first trip to state since 2007.

"I'm speechless," New Knoxville coach Tim Hegemier said.

The Rangers will head down to University of Dayton Arena to face Cincinnati Country Day at noon on Friday. Country Day beat defending state champion Fort Loramie in the regional semifinals and secured its spot at state with a 54-44 victory over Tri-Village on Saturday afternoon.

New Knoxville (26-2) watched a three-point halftime lead drop to one by the start of the fourth, and Toledo Christian's Ava Neitzke missed a shot to take the lead on the first possession of the fourth as Carsyn Henschen grabbed the rebound for the Rangers. Melisa Waterman drew a shooting foul on the other end and calmly drained both free throws to extend the lead to 36-33.

Ellie Gabel swished a trey from the top of the key 45 seconds later, and after Neitzke answered with a jumper from the baseline, Waterman added a three of her own to make it 42-35 with 5:39 left.

Just when it looked like New Knoxville was about to pull away, Toledo Christian (22-5) got a series of breaks. Henschen was called for a foul on Macey Wensink on a corner three, and though Wensink only hit one of the three free throws, the final miss bounced off Henschen and out of bounds to hand possession back to the Eagles.

Mackenzie Royal-Davis got the inbounds pass and battled through Avery Henschen for a layup, got a foul call, and hit the free throw to cut the lead to 42-39 with 4:16 remaining.

"They're winners," Hegemier said of his team. "They're tough. We had a couple of those turnovers before, we weren't thinking quite right. But we're better than that."

Kendall Braden took a jump shot that fell short and bounced right to Carsyn Henschen, and Gabel hit a straightaway jumper to stretch the lead back to five.

Kaylona Butler drove for a layup with 1:44 left to make it 44-41, but Avery Henschen responded just 33 seconds later when the Eagles defense left the lane wide open for her to drive to the hoop. After a Butler miss, Gabel hit both ends of a one-and-one with 35.6 seconds left to stretch the lead to seven and ice the game.

"There wasn't any leniency between either team," Hegemier said. "If we made a mistake, they scored. If they made a mistake, we scored. Thank God we hit our free throws in the end."

Unlike its semifinal win over Crestview on Thursday, New Knoxville came out firing on all cylinders, forcing a jump ball turnover on the Eagles' first possession before Haley Fledderjohann found Ellie Gabel in the right corner for a trey to put the Rangers ahead. Fledderjohann grabbed a rebound and then took a pass from Avery Henschen to the hoop to make it 5-0 1:12 into the game.

Kaylona Butler drove for a layup to get Toledo Christian back on the board, but then New Knoxville was pulling away again. Fledderjohann drove for another layup, Gabel hit a jump shot off the dribble, and Carsyn Henschen converted a hoop-and-harm to make it 12-2 with 4:05 left in the first.

"Probably won the game," Hegemier said of the fast start. "If we would've been 10 points behind these girls, that would've been a hell of a job getting back in it."

Mackenzie Royal-Davis answered for the Eagles, first with a pair of free throws and then with a trey at the top of the key to make it 12-7. The two teams traded buckets until the start of the second, when Braden hit her second three of the game to make it 16-13.

After nearly three scoreless minutes, the Rangers got a breakaway layup from Gabel after an Avery Henschen steal, and the lead fluctuated between three and six until Fledderjohann got open for a trey to make it 24-17 with 2:07 left in the half.

As the Eagles looked to inbound on their next possession, Carsyn Henschen was called for a technical foul after making contact with the ball while it was still in the hands of the inbounder, and Royal-Davis hit a free throw to start chipping into the lead. Braden added her third trey on the free possession, and Toledo Christian trailed 24-21 heading into the half.

But Braden, who went 3-of-6 and 3-of-4 from three in the first half, was a non-factor the rest of the way, shooting 0-of-7 in the final 16 minutes.

"The one girl I want to really point out is Haley Fledderjohann," Hegemier said "She did a job on Braden, holding her to nine points."

Royal-Davis scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while Gabel led New Knoxville with 16. Carsyn Henschen scored 11 and pulled down nine rebounds, while Avery Henschen finished with five assists.