For the fourth consecutive season, Dixie Heights and St. Henry will meet in the 34th District championship.
Top-seeded St. Henry advanced with a victory over Ludlow, while No. 2 seed Dixie used a late surge to defeat No. 3 Lloyd Memorial, with both games played at Lloyd Memorial High School in Erlanger.
The championship matchup is set for Thursday at 7 p.m., at the same venue.
Here’s a look at the semifinal games:
Dixie Heights 52, Lloyd Memorial 39
Up 27-15 at halftime, Dixie Heights appeared to be cruising toward the 34th District title game.
That lead quickly began to shrink. The crowd inside Scheben Gymnasium grew louder. Momentum started to shift and the Juggernauts began to find more open looks, cutting into what had felt like a comfortable margin.
When the game tightened, however, so did the Colonels.
Dixie steadied itself in the fourth quarter and held off Lloyd Memorial on the Juggernauts’ home floor, pulling away late for a 52-39 victory.
Lloyd outscored the Colonels 18-9 in the third quarter, trimming the deficit to 36-33 heading into the final eight minutes.
That’s when Dixie responded.
“They showed a lot of heart and discipline,” Colonels head coach Joel Steczynski said. “They showed that they can perform when things get tight. That’s the nice thing about having a game like tonight heading into Thursday’s championship. We’ll be fresh off a close game.”
Lloyd had faced similar holes before, including the regular-season matchup on Jan. 31 in Edgewood, which Dixie also won 68-61.
“We got down in the first half of that one, I think we were down 11,” Juggernauts head coach Paul Sturgeon said. “We’ve done that a few times this year, digging ourselves into a hole, but the thing I’m most proud of is that they never quit. They fight, they scrap, they do everything we ask them to do.”
Also similar to the regular season meeting, junior Asia Carner once again led the Colonels.
After scoring 34 points in the regular-season meeting, she added 28 in this one, including 13 of Dixie’s 16 points in the final eight minutes.
Carner’s night also marked a milestone.
With under a minute remaining, her second-to-last free throw pushed her to 1,000 career points, a moment made extra meaningful because she grew up attending Tichenor, Lloyd’s middle school.
“It feels great because I went to Tichenor,” Carner said. “My goal was to score my 1,000th point at Lloyd, against Lloyd. To accomplish that and do it with my team, it felt great.”
Lloyd tried a box-and-one to slow her down, and switched between man-to-man some, but Carner’s teammates and her own composure proved too much to contain.
“My team is capable of doing everything,” she said. “If they try to take me away, it just gives others more opportunities to score, and tonight it was truly a team effort. We dug in.”
Teammate Peyton Gibson added 11 points in the victory, including three three-pointers.
Despite the late push, the hole Lloyd dug was too deep. Dixie led 16-7 after the first quarter, ending it on a 12-0 run and holding leads as large as 14 in the first half. Lloyd never took the lead after the opening minutes, last holding it at 7-6 early in the first quarter.
Brooklyn Jackson led Lloyd with 17 points as the Juggernauts finished their season 14-15. The team will graduate four seniors, including three starters, All-9th Region Third Team member Mya Holden-Hopkins, Jenna Pierce and Kenya Williams.
Juniors Emmie Litton and Jackson will return as the two returning starters, along with three players off the bench who each played in at least 20 games this season.
Dixie now heads back to a familiar foe in St. Henry for Thursday’s championship.
“We know each other pretty well,” Steczynski said. “There’s not much that we do that they don’t know about and not much that they do that we don’t know about.”
MORE PHOTOS: Provided by Charles Bolton
COLONELS 52, JUGGERNAUTS 39
DIXIE HEIGHTS — 16-11-9-16 — 52
LLOYD MEMORIAL — 7-8-18-6 — 39
Scoring
Dixie Heights (52) — Carner 28, Gibson 11, Allen 6, Ragan 4, Roberts 3
Lloyd Memorial (39) — Jackson 17, Williams 9, Litton 8, Holden-Hopkins 3, Doyle 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers: Dixie Heights 6, Lloyd Memorial 00
Free Throws: Dixie Heights 12/20, Lloyd Memorial 7/10
Fouls: Dixie Heights 11, Lloyd Memorial 17
Records: Dixie Heights 12-15, Lloyd Memorial 14-15
St. Henry 58, Ludlow 38
At St. Henry, “Cru” is short for Crusader, but in the 34th District semifinal, it might as well have stood for “Cruise.”
That’s exactly what the Crusaders did on their way to their fourth straight district title game appearance.
St. Henry jumped out to a double-digit lead early, capped by a three from Joey Powers at the end of the first quarter to make it 18-6. A 12-0 run by the Crusaders soon after put the game out of reach.
The momentum never swung back. St. Henry led 35-14 at halftime, 51-23 after three and finished the game in complete control, improving to 17-11 on the season while remaining undefeated against district opponents.
Anna Bain led the Crusaders with 16 points, while Powers added 15.
Ludlow was paced by Rylie Meyer with 15 points and Addy Garrett with 12, who finished her high school career as the Panthers’ all-time leading scorer.
Ludlow’s season ends at 13-14.
CRUSADERS 58, PANTHERS 38
ST. HENRY — 18-17-16-7 — 58
LUDLOW — 6-8-9-15 — 38
Scoring
St. Henry (58) — Bain 16, Powers 15, Brannen 8, Armbruster 6, Sieg 6, Bollman 5, Francis 2
Ludlow (38) — Meyer 15, Garrett 12, K. Huff 6, Wade 3, A. Huff 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers: St. Henry 2, Ludlow 5
Free Throws: St. Henry 11/16, Ludlow 5/7
Fouls: St. Henry 7, Ludlow 16
Records: St. Henry 17-11, Ludlow 13-14