Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Maplewood junior Aliah Brumit goes up for a layup during the Rockets’ 40-32 district championship victory over Cuyahoga Heights on Saturday at Mineral Ridge.

MINERAL RIDGE — This time last season, Maplewood saw its season come to an end in the district finals.

That sting has sat with the Rockets for over a year now, and with another opportunity to bring a district crown home on the same floor that hosted their defeat a season ago, they weren’t going to waste the opportunity.

Maplewood did what it’s done all season, imposing its will early, and fended off a second-half surge to take down Cuyahoga Heights 40-32 on Saturday in the Division VII, Northeast 2 district final.

“It’s awesome,” Rockets coach Stephanie Pykare said. “So proud of them, happy for them, proud of them, and just really proud of the program. These girls played with a lot of heart. They play for each other, and it’s a separator, you know, in moments where things start to struggle.”

The win marks Maplewood’s first district crown since 2013, and its second in program history.

Last season’s 49-45 defeat at the hands of eventual regional champion Mogadore weighed heavily on the Rockets in the offseason.

Whenever things weren’t going well this season, the way that loss felt got the team re-focused on their goal.

On Saturday, they reached it.

“We really used that (Mogadore defeat) as motivation,” Pykare said. “We reminded them of how it felt to walk into that locker room after a loss. We just used that as fuel to make us better every day.”

Going into the locker room with a 23-8 lead, Maplewood controlled nearly every aspect of the game.

While the Rockets had a dominant start familiar to those who have watched them this season, Cuyahoga Heights wasn’t just going to slink away.

“Cuyahoga Heights is a really good team,” Pykare said. “Very methodical on offense and defense, so we knew we had to get up on them early. We did that successfully. In the second half, they played really well. They missed a lot in the first half, but in the second half, they didn’t seem like they could miss at all. It was just a tale of two halves, and that first half was huge for us to get in there, get up and out.”

Leading the way on the scoresheet for Maplewood was senior Morgan Himes with 16 points. Claire Urchek tacked on 10.

The win moves the Rockets to 22-3, ironically the same record they finished with as district runners up last season. Now, they look ahead to a familiar opponent in the regional semifinals, taking on Warren JFK.

Maplewood has gone up against the Eagles once this season already, downing them 48-41 back in early January.

“(Kennedy is a) great team, and it’s awesome that it’s local against local,” Pykare said. “It speaks a lot about what this area is about. We produce really good girls basketball players and programs and I’m so really proud to be in that moment with our team and against them.

“We’re both familiar with each other. We both have that advantage. We have two really great teams. It’s going to be a really great game, and shots gotta fall.”