Lady Leopards Bottle Bearcats 40-24, Claim Third Straight Sectional Title – Girls Basketball
#24 Louisville 40, Bedford 24
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The #24 seed Louisville Leopards Girls Basketball Team defeated the visiting #36 seed Bedford Bearcats 40-24 in the DIII Northeast 4 Sectional Finals Saturday at Louisville High School. With their seventh straight victory, Louisville improves to 13-10 on the season while securing their third consecutive sectional championship. The Lady Leopards advanced to play at #8 seed Avon Lake on Tuesday, February 24 at 7:00 PM in a district semifinal rematch from last season.
Live Stream Courtesy of YSN Live
Baker Scores Team-High 11 to Lead Leopards
Maggie Baker scored in every quarter and finished with a team-high 11 points to lead Louisville. Baker dropped in her only three-pointer, after a friendly bounce off the back of the rim, as part of a 5-point first quarter to help the Leopards pull ahead 17-11 after one period.
Tillett Breaks Her Own Single-Season Blocks Record
Ella Tillett stuffed a Bedford putback in the final minute of the first half to record her 57th block of the season, breaking her own single-season mark from a year ago. She now has 113 career blocks — shattering the previous school record of 79 set by Courtney Barwick (2021-2025) — and she hasn’t even reached the halfway point of her varsity career.
Tillett finished with 8 points, 4 coming in each half.
Points Come at a Premium in Middle Quarters
Points came at a premium following the opening quarter. Defense dominated the second quarter, as neither team scored until until Makayla Tanner stripped the ball into the hands of Mikayla Salmons, who took it the other way for a fast-break layup. The Lady Leopards would not score again until Baker used some shifty moves to create a transition basket with 1:24 remaining. Still, Louisville managed to outscore Bedford in the period 5-4 to take a 22-15 advantage into the half.
The Lady Leopards maintained that cushion early on in the third quarter, before the scoring halted again. Tanner broke a 4:03 scoreless segment with a three-pointer from the left corner to put Louisville ahead by double digits at 29-19. The Leopards would again outscore the opposition by a single point in the third quarter to take a 29-21 edge into the final stanza.
Salmons and Tanner would finish with 6 points each.
Louisville Holds Bedford Scoreless from Field in 4th Quarter
A floater in the lane by Bedford’s Lexi Ford with 10 seconds left in the third quarter ended a 5:34 Bearcat scoring drought. However, it would be the final time Bedford would score from the field, as the Louisville defense would hold them without a field goal the rest of the way.
The Lady Leopards didn’t score until Mabel Kiko hit a three-pointer from the top of the key at the 4:16 mark to push Louisville’s lead back to ten. The three was Louisville’s first points since Tanner’s three-ball in the third quarter, snapping a near-six minute scoring drought. Kiko’s three-pointer kickstarted an 11-0 Leopard run as they took a 40-22 lead into the final minute of action. Kiko finished with 7 points for the game.
Regardless of the score, the Bearcats didn’t go down without a fight. Two straight technicals were called at the 2:59 mark, leading to one ejection and four Louisville free throw attempts. The Leopards played keep away on offense after that, but Bedford still managed to pick up its fourth technical foul of the game with 1:07 left.
Ultimately, Louisville would hit 8-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter to ice the game and move to districts for the third straight season. The Leopards also shot 13-of-18 from the line for the game. Lilly Seaman and Natalia Tonnous rounded out the LHS scoring with 1 point each.
Lowest Points Allowed by Lady Leopards in Tournament Since 2005
The 24 points allowed are the lowest total by the Lady Leopards in a tournament game since 2005, when they defeated Akron Springfield 58-21. The 24-point total ranks fifth all-time. The 1992 AP Poll championship team held tournament opponents to 23 points or less twice. The 1983 Louisville Girls Basketball Team still holds the record with a 39-13 win over Massillon in the opening round.
LHS Lowest Points Allowed in Tournament
| Points Allowed | Date | Opponent | W-L | LHS | Opp |
| 13 | 2/22/1983 | Massillon | W | 39 | 13 |
| 18 | 2/22/1992 | Northwest | W | 48 | 18 |
| 21 | 2/14/2005 | Akron Springfield | W | 58 | 21 |
| 23 | 3/5/1992 | Green | W | 49 | 23 |
| 24 | 2/21/2026 | Bedford | W | 40 | 24 |
LHS Lowest Combined Points in a Tournament
The 64 combined points in a postseason game is tied for fourth with two other recent tournament games. That same Massillon game’s combined total of 52 points is still the lowest scoring tournament game in team history.
| Combined Points | Date | Opponent | W-L | LHS | Opp |
| 52 | 2/22/1983 | Massillon | W | 39 | 13 |
| 61 | 2/27/1985 | Akron Springfield | L | 30 | 31 |
| 61 | 2/22/2018 | Jackson | L | 21 | 40 |
| 64 | 2/17/2023 | Hudson | L | 21 | 43 |
| 64 | 2/19/2025 | Avon Lake | L | 23 | 41 |
| 64 | 2/21/2026 | Bedford | W | 40 | 24 |
Flowers Blooms Early to Lead Bedford
Kamil Flowers hit 3 three-pointers in the opening quarter for her only points as the Bearcats scored 11 points in the first quarter, but only 13 points the rest of the way.
Ford and Cheryl Pollard scored all of their points from the field, 6 and 4 respectively. Aviana Jackson also scored 3 and Aniya Glenn tacked on 2 to round out the Bedford scoring.
The loss snapped the Bearcats’ 2-game winning streak as they finish the season at 7-14.
This was the first-ever meeting between Louisville and Bedford in girls basketball. The Bearcats are the 94th unique opponent the Lady Leopards have played all-time, 44th different team they have faced in the tournament, and 5th new opponent they have challenged this season. Louisville went 3-2 against those five new opponents this season.
First Sectional Title Three-Peat Since 1996
This is the third time that the Lady Leopards have won three sectional championships in a row and the first time its happened in 30 years. Louisville won five straight DII Sectional Titles from 1988-1992 and then put together another three-peat from 1994-1996. The Lady Leopards have now advanced to districts 19 times in 50 years of tournament play.
Louisville is now 50-49 in the tournament all-time dating back to their third season in 1977. The Lady Leopards have now won four straight postseason games at home, improving to 10-5 when playing in tournament games held at Louisville High School overall.
Louisville will look to advance to the district title game for the first time since 1996 when they travel to take on last year’s state runner-up in Avon Lake on Tuesday. The program’s 30-year wait for a district championship appearance is the longest active drought in Leopard Athletics.
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Jared Heller
Bedford at Louisville Girls Varsity Basketball Statistics
LEOPARDS 40, BEARCATS 24
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Bedford 11-4-6-3–24
Louisville 17-5-7-11–40
Bedford Bearcats Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Kamil Flowers | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Lexi Ford | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Cheryl Pollard | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Aviana Jackson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Aniya Glenn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Skylar Turner | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 6 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 24 |
Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Maggie Baker | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| Ella Tillett | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Mabel Kiko | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Mikayla Salmons | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Makayla Tanner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Lilly Seaman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Natalia Tonnous | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Makenna Haugen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 9 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 18 | 40 |
Fouls: 13-9 Bedford
Records: Louisville 13-10, Bedford 7-14
