Photo Showcase: A-2 District Semifinal

* * *

A poor performance three nights earlier helped pave the way to a postseason victory Tuesday night for Omaha Westside.

Senior Lauren Meyers scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Warriors to a 55-43 girls basketball victory over Omaha North in a district A-2 semifinal at Omaha Central. Westside advances to the final Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against the host Eagles, who defeated Omaha Northwest 84-33 in the other semifinal.

Warriors coach Steve Clark said his team was determined after losing 59-26 against Millard North on Saturday night in the team's regular-season finale.

“We played poorly that night, and we knew it,” Clark said. “But we had a good practice Monday and came out ready to go tonight.”

Nobody was more ready than Meyers, one of six seniors on the squad. She had 11 points in the first quarter and 19 by halftime.

“I think that loss the other night was a good wake-up call for us,” she said. “This is it for us seniors, so we've got to give it everything we've got.”

The Vikings held their only lead at 2-0 on a putback by Danielle Jones. Westside grabbed a nine-point advantage later in the first quarter as Meyers made five baskets and freshman Jay Bridgeman sank three.

“They were both finishing their shots inside tonight,” Clark said. “That was a big key for us.”

The Warriors opened up a 16-point lead late in the second quarter after a pair of free throws by 5-foot-1 senior guard Mackenzie Lammel. North trailed by 14 at halftime but trimmed that deficit to 10 on a pair of baskets by Imani White to open the third quarter.

That was as close as the Vikings would get as a 3-pointer by Mallory Thompson and layups by Bridgeman and Meyers extended the Westside lead to 17. That advantage grew to 20 late in the game on a 3-point play by Shannen Pickering.

The Warriors won despite sinking just 1 of 11 shots from behind the arc. Westside shot 46 percent from the field (19 of 41) and 57 percent from the free-throw line (16 of 28) to put away the Vikings.

“That was a team that scared me,” Clark said. “They're about .500, like us, so we were pretty evenly matched.”

Bridgeman, a 6-foot center, finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Warriors.

Meyers, who will play basketball at Rockhurst University next season, said her team will need to be ready for the challenge Thursday night presented by top-ranked Central.

“We've got to come out and play with a lot of confidence,” she said. “We'll have to play a great game against them.”

White scored 20 points to lead the Vikings, who finish the season 10-14.

Omaha North (10-14) 12  7 9 15—43
Omaha Westside (13-10) 17 16 7 15—55
ON: Ashley Frolio 0-7 0-0 0, Tiani White 1-2 0-1 2, Makayla Aspegren 0-1 0-0 0, Imani White 7-13 5-8 20, Ashley Collins 2-12 0-0 5, Javona Wynne 0-7 0-0 0, Nashawn Williams 2-4 0-0 6, Danielle Jones 4-10 2-2 10, Jasmin Moore 0-3 0-1 0. Totals 16-59 7-11 43.
OW: Mackenzie Lammel 0-2 6-6 6, Mallory Thompson 1-6 0-0 3, Marie Matthews 0-2 0-2 0, Shannen Pickering 2-6 2-3 6, Megan Kinsella 1-2 0-4 2, Lauren Meyers 9-15 6-9 24, Jay Bridgeman 6-8 2-2 14. Totals 19-41 16-28 55.
3-point goals: ON 4-17 (Frolio 0-5, T. White 0-1, I. White 1-3, Collins 1-3, Wynne 0-2, Williams 2-3); OW 1-11 (Lammel 0-1, Thompson 1-6, Pickering 0-3, Meyers 0-1). Rebounds: ON 36 (Jones 7); OW 36 (Bridgeman 15). Total fouls: ON 18; OW 13. Turnovers: ON 14; OW 14. Field-goal percentage: ON .271; OW .463. Free-throw percentage: ON .636; OW .571. A: 250 (est.)

Omaha Central 84, Omaha Northwest 33

The top-ranked Eagles led 29-2 after the first quarter and rolled past the unranked Huskies.

Sylvia Smith-Gatson scored 16 points to pace Central while Brianna Rollerson added 15 and Emily Gamble 13. The Eagles shot 64 percent from the field in the first half and 57 percent for the game.

Twelve players scored for 25-1 Central, which will host Westside in the district A-2 final Thursday night.

Omaha Northwest (4-19)    2 11    5 15—33
Omaha Central (25-1) 29 24 18 13—84
ONW: Deleyah Harris 1, Lavonzell Brown 6, Nyamal Pal 14, Rachel Rawleigh 3, Nadia Donovan 6, Cerina Chillous 3.
OC: Emily Gamble 13, Paige Muhammad 2, Koi Bradley 2, T'Keyah Stapleton 7, Abigail Niebrugge 6, Jacquelyn Beaugard 4, Sylvia Smith-Gatson 16, Sydney McGruder 4, Jazmine Polk 6, Mercedes Bender 6, Elexis Martinez 3, Brianna Rollerson 15.