TIPP CITY – It was not a very happy Valentine’s Day for the West Liberty-Salem Tigers girls basketball squad Monday night.

In a topsy-turvy game against Division III tournament nemesis Versailles, West Liberty-Salem dropped its first round D-III contest to its (nick)namesake by a 37-31 decision, a sad tale when you consider if the WL-S Tigers had played four complete quarters, they might have beaten Versailles handily.

“We knew this whole side (of the district tournament bracket) was going to be tough, because we had Versailles or Miami East,” said West Liberty-Salem coach Dennis McIntosh. “Once Brookville decided to take a bye, we knew Versailles would not want to play Miami East again so soon.” McIntosh referred to a Miami East 15-point victory over Versailles this past weekend.

Versailles (the No. 5 seed and now 9-9 on the season), advances to face No. 4 seed Brookville on Tuesday, Feb. 22. No. 3 seed West Liberty-Salem’s season ends at 17-4.

Versailles jumped on WL-S early, as senior Cassie Prenger scored all nine of her points in the first period, giving her team a 15-5 first quarter edge.

But then, WL-S calmed down, and started playing the kind of hoops which made them a 17-win team and co-champs of the Ohio Heritage Conference. And it was a combination of the young and old which would eventually give WL-S a one-point lead at halftime.

Tigers’ senior Kayla Peterson and sophomore Maria Daulton were key contributors in a 16-5 second quarter run. Peterson scored six of her game-high 12 points in the frame, and also teamed with sister Becka and junior Alexis Smith to smother Versailles on defense, forcing a pair of lengthy scoring stretches, including 3:44 of the period. Daulton would settle down the offense, and hit a clutch 3-pointer.

Unfortunately for WL-S, the second half – in particular a 14-2 Versailles third period – would be a dreadful one. WL-S did manage to outscore Versailles 8-3 in the final stanza, but it wasn’t enough as Versailles used a slow-it-down offense to milk precious time off the game-clock late.

“Offensively, we just couldn’t get it going, especially in the first and third periods,” McIntosh said. “Plus, they were packing it in on Becka. Defensively, I was very happy. To give up 37 points is exactly what we wanted to do, and that would’ve been enough to win. But it was hard to recover after the first and third periods.”

McIntosh felt his team took a few too many quick shots, which didn’t allow it to get into good rebounding position.