No sooner had his team clinched a return trip to the Division I state tournament than Pickerington Central girls basketball coach Chris Wallace mentioned the last game the Tigers played there.

Central led a state semifinal by 12 points in the fourth quarter last year before Olmsted Falls stormed back to end the Tigers’ postseason run.

The Tigers never trailed in Friday’s regional final against Watterson at Otterbein. For all the success of their trapping defense, however, they struggled to extend the lead beyond single digits for most of the first three quarters before winning 43-30.

“We gave (the state semifinal) up, we rushed shots in that fourth quarter and let the game get the best of us,” Wallace said. “We all learned from that, that we need to put games away. We didn’t let Watterson back in. We possessed the ball multiple times with four and five passes, and that’s what separates this team.”

Berry Wallace’s 14 points and 11 rebounds, six of them offensive, and 11 points, six rebounds and four steals from Blossom Wallace ultimately subdued upset-minded Watterson as Central pulled away for its second consecutive regional championship.

Competing in their 15th state tournament, the second-ranked Tigers (25-3) will face No. 6 Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame or Springboro in a semifinal at 8 p.m. next Friday at University of Dayton Arena.

Central forced 21 turnovers and ended the Eagles’ deepest postseason run since 1987, when they were Class AAA runners-up.

Watterson (20-7) slowed the game enough in the second quarter to pull within 20-18 at halftime and pulled even on the first possession of the second half on a Lilly Mulligan jumper, but ball security again became a problem.

Berry Wallace converted a 3-point play off a steal for a 33-26 lead midway through the third, and Central steadily extended its lead from there. The Tigers had a 35-26 advantage going into the fourth.

“We always talk about winning the third quarter,” Berry Wallace said. “That’s the biggest time of the game. We had a long way to go, but that was super important.

“We were just trying to stick to our game and not play at our pace.”

Sophie Ziel had 13 points and Mulligan added 10 to lead Watterson. Ziel was defended by a rotation of Kennady Gordon, Faith King and Blossom Wallace.

“It was a hard matchup but it was fun to get that opportunity to guard a great player,” Blossom Wallace said. “I challenged myself to stay with her.”

Cameron Sparks had seven rebounds and Alexandria Mosholder had five rebounds for the Eagles, who were seeded eighth in the district tournament but defeated fourth-ranked Marysville and No. 1 Olentangy to reach their first regional final in 37 years.

“We had a really good week of practice and I did not think we’d (commit that many turnovers),” Watterson coach Sam Davis said. “We didn’t get into some of the sets we usually get into. We didn’t run our full-court press the way we wanted. We rushed things, we had too many turnovers, and Pickerington Central is really good.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Pickerington Central girls basketball earns regional title repeat