LOGAN — From sweet to elite!

Such is life for the Union Local Jets.

By virtue of outlasting previously undefeated and No. 1 ranked Wheelersburg, 56-45, Wednesday night inside the Jim Myers Gymnasium at Logan High School, Union Local finds itself on the brink of the OHSAA’s Division III state semifinal.

“It’s pretty amazing,” UL head coach Scooter Tolzda said. “You get down to the final eight in the state of Ohio and something pretty good is happening.”

The Jets will return to Logan on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip against Proctorville Fairland, which fended off Fort Frye, 43-38, in the lidlifter.

“It’s going to be an exciting one on Saturday and we’ll see what happens,” Tolzda said. “I can’t thank our crowd enough and the excitement and energy they brought. We need that to continue come Saturday.”

The Jets led the game wire-to-wire, but Tolzda knew and spoke openly all week leading up to the game that the Pirates were too good and too much of a veteran-laden squad to simply go away.

He was correct.

Wheelersburg found itself down 9-0 immediately out of the gate as Jets senior Hannah Merritt buried bonus goals on three of the first four possessions.

“Coach Scooter kept preaching to us that we had to come out hot in order to stay in this game,” Merritt said. “That’s what I had in my mind throughout all of the practices and the days leading up to the game.”

The Pirates continually gave Union Local their best shot and there were points when the Jets were wobbling. However, Wheelersburg never tied or took the lead.

“Look at their scores all year, they were that kind of team that just found a way to win,” Tolzda said. “They probably should have lost in the district, but they found a way. I honestly didn’t feel safe until the last minute when we started making our foul shots. We weathered the storm.”

Union Local watched Wheelersburg get as close as three in the second, but closed the half on a 9-2 run. In the third, the Pirates seemed to gain some momentum and got within three at 33-30, but the Jets responded once again.

Senior Keira Gregor buried a huge triple after junior pivot Reagan Vinskovich stopped the Jets’ bleeding with a nice move on the interior for two of her game-high 20.The latter closed the period with a conventional three-point play, pushing the UL lead to 11 at the final break.

“Keira’s shot was a big one,” Tolzda said. “We really needed that lift right there.”

The Jets’ spurt didn’t stop there. Merritt, who finished with 16 points in the game, dropped in a nifty floater along the baseline to stretch the margin to 43-30.

Still, though, the Pirates weren’t going to go out quietly.

Alaina Keeney jumpstarted what proved to be a 12-0 run with a bonus goal. By the time Macee Eaton capped the spurt with a rebound and putback, Wheelersburg had trimmed the Jets’ lead to one at 43-42 with just under three minutes to play.

As she’s seemingly done time and time again, Vinskovich found a seam in the defense for a bucket to put the brakes on the hemmoraging.

Wheelersburg turned it over on the ensuing possession and just like that the droves of Jets’ faithful who made the nearly 2-hour trip from Belmont County were starting to sense it.

The Pirates threw the ball away once again and now were forced to foul. Junior point guard Emily Kellaway, who didn’t score a point during the entire district tournament, knocked down two from the line.

All told, Union Local, which misfired on its first six free throws of the game, converted nine of 12 from the stripe inside of a minute to play to salt the game away.

“At the end of the game, I thought we found a way to get the ball to the right place and we found a way to survive,” Tolzda said.

Vinskovich led the way in the scoring column and with her 11 rebounds. Unfortunately, she was helped from the court following the game after sustaining an apparent ankle injury in the game’s final moments.

“I don’t know what her level of pain is, but we’ll have to see what’s going on,” Tolzda said.

Junior Torre Kildow finished with nine points despite struggling at the line and being bottled up for only one point in the second half. All six Jets players who entered the game recorded at least one point.

Madison Whittaker, Keeney and Eaton combined for 31 of the Pirates’ points. Whittaker had 11 of those.