The Paden City Lady Wildcats’ season came to an abrupt halt Feb. 21 as the St. Marys Blue Devils cruised to an easy 75-42 Region I, Section II victory in St. Marys.

The Blue Devils — without the services of Head Coach Howard Meeks who was at the hospital with his father — jumped out to a 17-8 lead after eight minutes and never looked back in closing out the Lady ‘Cat season at 4-20.

The one-two punch of Kelsea Fickiesen and Sara O’Neil accounted for 48 Blue Devil points, while the only double digit scoring came from Alli Bertozzi who netted 20 points and 22 rebounds for a double-double for Paden City.

The ‘Cats couldn’t contain either Fickiesen or O’Neil and fell behind early with numerous forced turnovers that St. Marys converted.

“We didn’t have anyone that could contain Fickiesen,” said Paden City Head Coach Kelly Sine. “She is a player and we better be finding someone who can slow her down, because a player like that you’re not going to shut down.”

“We won four games this season, but that was four more than we won last season. We only made 53 percent from the free throw line. If we would have shot just 65 percent we would have won nine more games. If the girls work hard during the off season, we should be a team to be reckoned with,” added Sine.

Sine stated that he and Head Boys’ Coach Fred King will have a full schedule of activities for players in June.

Besides Bertozzi’s 20 points, Amanda Tallman and Shauna Durant each added eight points, while Courtney Conaway tallied five for the Wildcats. “Alli has carried the load for the biggest part of the season. We need for some of the other players to step up and help her in the scoring department,” said Sine.

Paden City will lose three players to graduation in the fall in Durant, Amy Toman, and Sasha Newson.

“We will miss all three of the seniors, especially Durant, who has been my point guard for the last two seasons,” said Sine.

However, the cupboard isn’t bare. The Wildcats return their three top scorers in Bertozzi, Conaway, and Tallman, plus they have a wealth of talent coming up from the junior varsity team in Amber Palmer, Erica Sapp, Dominique Craft, Haley Fox, Joni Myers, and Amanda Heasley.