The Sevastopol Pioneers girls basketball team saw their season end on Thursday in the sectional final, losing to Assumption 61-42.
The Pioneers and the Royals exchanged blows early as both teams used their defense as an overpowering force to disrupt the offensive flow of the game. Jordan Jaglinski showed why she is one of the top three-point shooters in the state with two early three-pointers for the Royals, while Kayla Ranly used her ability to drive to the Pioneers' advantage with four buckets inside the arc. The Royals entered the locker room with a slim 25-23 advantage thanks to 10 first-half points from Jaglinski and six from Sarah Shaw. Ranly and the Rikkolas did their best to keep things close as they combined to score all 23 first-half points.
The first crack in the Pioneers' armor came right away in the second half when an early turnover sparked a 9-0 Royals run to expand their lead in double digits for the first time. Their lead would extend it to a dozen before the Pioneers began to whittle it away. Addison Schauske's three-pointer from well beyond the arc made it a 39-36 lead with 9:40 remaining in the game.
With the momentum in the Pioneers' favor, the Royals' rally restarted when Leire Sainz de Rozas hit her own three-pointer on the very next possession, beginning a run that saw Assumption score 22 of the next 28 points in the game.
Four Royals players finished in double figures, with Shaw scoring 15 points, Jaglinski pouring 14 points, Addi Vollert adding 12 points, and Anna Schooley contributing 11 points. Ranly ended her career as the Pioneers' highest scorer with 19 points. Rikkola added to her program-record scoring mark with 14 more points, while Sadie Rikkola added six points, and Schauske chipped in three points.
Assumption will play in next weekend's WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament at the Resch Center, while Sevastopol's ends as one of the most successful in school history as they ended a 40-year drought without playing in a sectional final.
