The Newton Falls girls basketball team cleared a hurdle last week, a hurdle that tripped up the Tigers a year ago.

When Newton Falls defeated Brookfield, 32-28, on Saturday at Ravenna High School, it was the first district title in girls basketball for the school. A year previously, the Tigers lost the district championship game to Garfield.

But don’t think the Tigers are resting on their accomplishment.

“We have taken the mentality all year long to prepare for one game at a time and to look forward to the challenge of the next game,” Newton Falls coach Mark Baker said. “The ball doesn’t care who’s watching, what the event is or if it’s a big game or a little game.

“The fact is we’re playing and we have a certain way we prepare and a certain way we play. So it’s business as usual for us.”

That business takes the Tigers (24-1) to Cuyahoga Falls High School tonight for a Division III regional semifinal against Doylestown Chippewa (22-3). Game time is 8 p.m.

“They (Chippewa) are incredibly fundamental and have excellent size. They have an all-state post player, Ashley Richardson, and a bunch of outstanding shooters,” Baker said. “They are well-coached and incredibly versatile. They don’t let you get comfortable with one type of defense, they rotate their defenses, using a mixture of zone and man-to-man.

“Their size is just outstanding. We have pretty good size ourselves, but they have three girls over 6-feet and one of them is their point guard. They are difficult to match up against one-on-one.”

The Tigers also have some versatility in their game, possessing the ability to play different styles depending on the opponent.

“We kind of prepare for each team separately. If we feel it’s a team we can push the tempo against, we will try to do that,” Baker said. “If we feel a team is good at running, we can slow them down and make them play a more half-court style.

“We are fortunate with this group that we can play a multitude of different ways to our advantage. We can take teams out of what they want to do.”

Newton Falls also has its own standout post player, 6-1 senior Gabby Kline who averages 19 points and almost nine rebounds per game, while also shooting 37 percent from the 3-point line.

Two 5-10 forwards, junior Kayla Barreca and sophomore Isabelle Kline, give Gabby Kline plenty of help. Izzy Kline averages 15 points and almost 11 rebounds per game and Barreca adds eight points and eight rebounds. Guards Autumn Hutson and Hannah Harnichar, both juniors, round out the starting lineup.

Juniors Tori Blandine, Anga Fowler and Ashley Sembach provide depth off the bench.

“We know we are going to play solid defense, we have played good defense all year long,” Baker said. “We held a very good Brookfield team, which had been scoring in the 60s, we held them to 28. We held a very good Lakeview team to 36.

“They (Chippewa) do have a high-powered offense, so if we could hold them to less than 10 points per quarter we could have some success. We’ve got to limit their transition opportunities and, when they are on defense we have to slow ourselves down. If we go too fast, we could get in a position where we can’t get out of their traps.”

Tonight’s winner faces Gilmour Academy or Canton Central Catholic in the regional final Saturday at 1:30 p.m., also at Cuyahoga Falls. Gilmour and CCC tip off tonight at 6:15.