Jefferson junior Hannah Sensibaugh earns a trip to the charity stripe as Spencerville sophomore Katie Merriman tries to stop her Tuesday night in sectional play at Van Wert. Sensibaugh scored 12 points as the Wildcats eliminated the Bearcats by 7.

Fortunately for Jefferson, they recovered quicker by hitting their first three shots of the second quarter and never trailing again en route to a 60-53 win.

In the night’s opener, hot-shooting St. John’s ousted Parkway 55-32.

“Neither team could put the ball in the basket at that time,” Jefferson coach Dave Hoffman said. “We’ve had stretches throughout the year where we’ve had that. We did weather that.”

Spencerville senior guard Alyssa Mulholland ended the stalemate at the 2:45 mark of the first quarter with a three to open the game’s scoring. Jefferson didn’t get on the board until the 41-second mark of the first, when junior guard Brooke Hesseling hit a three of her own.