The Wildcats offense caught up in the second quarter.

Added together, Class D’s No. 1 seed in Section VI coasted to a 50-11 semifinal victory over No. 5 Clymer at the Physical Education Complex.

Freshman Emmersen Crawford led Sherman with 11 points, while seniors Kelsey Wagner and Teagan Gratto each added 10.

The Wildcats got off to a slow start offensively, shooting just 3 of 13 from the field, including 1 of 8 from 3-point range, in the opening eight minutes. But that didn’t matter much because they went up 12-1 on a Gratto 3-pointer with 1:29 left in the period.

Photo courtesy of Steve Garvey Sherman’s Teagan Gratto sets her sights on the basket while being guarded by Clymer’s Elli Bodamer.

“Teagan has just been playing with a different energy lately,” Sherman head coach Emily Eckwahl said. “It’s just that fire that comes out of seniors late in the season. Now is as good a time as any for it.”

At the other end, the Pirates turned the ball over 11 times and didn’t record a field goal until junior Lilly Johnson’s bucket with exactly a minute left.

“We always rely on our defense to get our offense going,” Eckwahl said. “The girls have been working really, really hard the last three weeks on fine tuning the things that we do to be able to do them better.”

Sherman’s offense did in fact get going in the second quarter. Crawford scored on back-to-back trips before freshman Beya Oehlbeck and sophomore Madison Emory both hit a pair of 3-pointers, and Wagner added another during what turned out to be a 19-0 run.

“The girls were moving the ball to the open shooter. They were playing really unselfishly,” Eckwahl said. “With our balanced attack, that’s what we need to do: find the one who is open, and they did.”

Ava Nyweide’s basket with 11 seconds remaining was Clymer’s only field goal of the second quarter and the Wildcats led 33-5 at halftime.

Sherman won the second half 17-6 with the outcome already decided.

The Wildcats will take on No. 3 Panama in Saturday’s title game at noon back at JCC. Sherman won two previous meetings this year, 74-34 on Dec. 17 in Panama and 58-52 on Jan. 27 in Sherman.

“They are certainly a familiar foe. I’m sure they’ll give us their best game,” Eckwahl said of the Panthers. “We just have to be ready to show up and play our best ball.”

NOTES: Crawford had six rebounds and six steals; Gratto had five rebounds and four steals; and Wagner had four steals and four assists for Sherman, which shot 16 of 46 from the field, including 8 of 27 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 18 times. … Johnson had 6 points for Clymer, which shot 4 of 25 from the field, including 0 of 8 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 35 times.

CLYMER (11)

Pratt 0 0 0, Faulker 0 0 0, Goetzinger 0 1 1, Fuller 0 0 0, Nyweide 2 0 4, Burchanowski 0 0 0, Malecki 0 0 0, Johnson 2 2 6, Bodamer 0 0 0, Durfey 0 0 0. Totals 4 3 11.

SHERMAN (50)

Gable 2 0 5, Emory 2 0 6, Kioko 0 0 0, Chambers 1 0 2, Crawford 4 3 11, Wagner 2 4 10, Palmatier 0 0 0, Gratto 3 3 10, Oehlbeck 2 0 6, Irwin 0 0 0, Christensen 0 0 0. Totals 16 10 50.

3-point goals–Gable, Emory 2, Wagner 2, Gratto, Oehlbeck 2.

Clymer 3 2 5 1 — 11

Sherman 12 21 7 10 — 50