LAPEL — One regular-season repeat taken care of, another one awaits for the Lapel girls basketball team.

The Bulldogs opened Class 2A Sectional 40 play, at LHS, with a 64-33 victory against Elwood (6-18) in a tournament quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Lapel (17-6) had beaten Elwood during the regular season 88-32, on Nov. 19, in Elwood.

The win puts the Bulldogs in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal against Wapahani (14-9). Frankton (14-7) and the winner of Tuesday’s Monroe Central-Alexandria game play in the second semifinal.

Friday’s winners play in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. sectional championship. Lapel is looking for its first sectional title since 2007.

Lapel’s semifinal matchup is a quick re-match against the Raiders. Lapel ended the regular season on Jan. 28 with a 53-42 win, at home, against Wapahani.

A key to the victory was a 17-7 Bulldog scoring advantage in the second quarter.

“We don’t fall into, ‘We beat them last time, so we’re good,’” Lapel head coach Zach Newby said. “It’s nice that they are familiar. We can just fine tune the things we didn’t do well and hopefully we’ll come out and play well.”

On Tuesday, it was all Lapel from start to finish. The Bulldogs scored 16 of the game’s first 18 points and led by as much as 34.

“They’re focused,” Newby said of his team quickly taking control against Elwood. “They’re not worried on who they are playing or what their record is.

“They’re as locked in as I’ve ever seen a group here (at LHS),” said Newby, who’s in his sixth year with the Bulldogs.

In Tuesday’s convincing victory, all 10 players on the Lapel roster played and eight scored. Three were in double figures.

Senior Delany Peoples led all scorers with 15 points. Makynlee Taylor had 14 points to go with 12 rebounds. Morgan Knepp scored 10.

“It’s not as good as we can play,” Taylor said of the win over the Panthers. “We’ll need to come out with some energy and be ready to go (Friday).”

For the Bulldogs, Lily Daniels followed with 7 points. Ashlynn Allman and Makayla McDole both had 6. Anna Willis contributed 4 points and Chloe Tucker had 2.