CUMBERLAND — After a slow start offensively, Allegany leaned on its defense, and eventually the shots started to fall.
Once they did, the No. 2 seed Campers (15-6) took control, cruising to a 61-25 win in the Class 1A West Region I quarterfinals over No. 7 Clear Spring on Saturday.
“I thought our kids played hard,” Allegany head coach Jim O’Neal said. “Offensively, I thought we were passing well, executing well. They kind of just stayed back and let us shoot early in the game. Those shots weren’t going in, but as the game played out, we started hitting those shots.”
Alco shot 4 of 15 (27%) from the floor and 2 of 11 (18%) from deep in the first quarter.
The Campers held the Blazers (3-17) to 3 of 10 (30%) from the field and led 12-7 after one.
Allegany’s defense took over in the second quarter, holding Clear Spring to only three points.
Offensive rebounds were a key factor for the Campers, grabbing 11 in the first half.
“You kinda just gotta box out, and follow the ball and jump up and get it,” Allegany junior Julia Imes said.
Imes scored seven points with three steals.
Allegany shot 7 of 32 (22%) in the first half and 3 of 18 (17%) from deep, but led 20-9 at halftime.
“If we go back and watch the film, it’s not like they were doing anything to slow our offense down,” O’Neal said. “We were running our offense, executing our offense, shooting in rhythm.
“I thought our kids did a nice job of just keep playing and over the course of four quarters, the averages and percentages of who we are as a shooting team kinda worked its way up.”
The Blazers were held to 4 of 17 (24%) from the floor and 1 of 9 (11%) from beyond the arc.
In the second half, the Campers combined for 41 points with 19 in the third quarter.
Braylin Bosley scored nine points in the frame and tied Amanda Vizza for a game-high 17.
Bosley added five steals and two assists while Vizza had four steals.
“We knew we could shoot the ball, so if they aren’t falling, we just gotta keep shooting.” Bosley said. “They’ll eventually end up going in, and if not, we’ll just get it back on defense.”
Alco led 39-21 after three quarters and outscored the Blazers 22-4 in the fourth.
“We hadn’t played for a week, so first quarter, kinda getting back in the flow of things,” O’Neal said. “Third quarter, everything just looked a little more relaxed. We were scoring earlier, and when we start scoring earlier, that makes our defense even better.”
Lexi Matthews led Clear Spring with 14 points.
Allegany moves on to the region semifinals and will host No. 3 seed Northern on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
The Huskies (14-8) defeated No. 6 seed Hancock, 71-26, on Saturday in the quarterfinals.