Jim Van Winkle hopes his Hilliard Darby High School boys basketball team got a shot of adrenaline heading into the Division I district tournament.

The Panthers rallied to defeat Hilliard Davidson 50-43 on Feb. 17 in the regular-season and OCC-Central Division finale.

“It definitely should be a big boost for us,” said the first-year coach, whose team finished the regular season 6-14 overall. “It was a nice win and the kids fought back for the win. They were pretty excited.”

Nic Baker and David Dennis both scored 12 points, Taylor Van Winkle had 10 points with three 3-pointers and Bryson Hook and Clay Schmidt added six points apiece.

“We cut our deficit to 10 (points) in the third quarter and cut it to five to start the fourth,” coach Van Winkle said “We chipped away and made the plays we needed to make and were able to switch our man and zone defenses to keep them off-balance. It was a great team win.”

Darby opens district competition with a first-round game against a familiar opponent: OCC-Central rival Worthington Kilbourne. The Wolves swept the regular-season series, winning 53-44 on Dec. 6 and 58-40 on Jan. 20. The third meeting will be at 7:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, at Reynoldsburg.

“You know what to expect from them,” coach Van Winkle said of Kilbourne, which enters the game at 11-9. “We know their personnel and we know their tendencies. It’s not like something that we won’t be used to seeing and that helps some with the mental aspect of the game.”

Darby went 3-11 in the OCC-Central to finish seventh behind champion Upper Arlington (12-2), Dublin Coffman and Thomas Worthington (both 9-5), Kilbourne and Westland (both 8-6) and Davidson (7-7). Central Crossing went 0-14.

Against Kilbourne on Dec. 6, Hook scored 15 points, Taylor Van Winkle had 11 and Schmidt added 10.

Brian Hanks led the Wolves with 17 points and Connor Dahn scored 11.

Schmidt had 10 points and Taylor Van Winkle added nine in the second meeting. Hanks had 21 points, Dahn scored 12 and Tyler Stern-Tucker added 10 for Kilbourne.

The first-round winner plays second-seeded Walnut Ridge or Whetstone in the second round at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29, at Reynoldsburg. Darby did not play either team this season.

City League runner-up Walnut Ridge is 18-1 overall and ranked fifth in the state behind top-ranked and top-seeded Northland. Whetstone is 5-15.

The winner plays Briggs, seventh-seeded UA or 12th-seeded Mount Vernon in a district semifinal at 6 p.m. March 7 at Reynoldsburg.

•The girls team opened the Division I district tournament with a 43-39 win over Dublin Scioto on Feb. 14 at Olentangy Orange to improve to 8-13 overall.

The Panthers advanced to play ninth-seeded Watterson in the second round Feb. 22. The winner plays top-seeded and top-ranked Reynoldsburg or Franklin Heights in a district semifinal at 8 p.m. March 1 at Orange.

Darby trailed 34-27 after three quarters against Scioto, prompting coach Liz Van Winkle to issue a challenge to her players. The Panthers limited the Irish to five points in the final eight minutes and senior Annie Hilditch hit two 3-pointers to spark the offense.

“Coach kind of ripped us,” Hilditch said. “Talking to the seniors, she said, ‘Do you want to go out like this?’ We fought back, dug deep and got the win.”

Junior guard Katie Esposito was in a familiar situation for the Panthers. On Feb. 10, Esposito made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Westland 45-42 in the regular-season finale. Four days later, she stood at the foul line with her team nursing a two-point lead with 12.3 seconds to play.

She hit both free throws to secure the victory.

“I try not to think about it,” Esposito said about clutch situations. “It would just be working myself up.

“(Making the 3-pointer to beat Westland) definitely helped my confidence. It helped me when I went to the foul line this time.”

Hilditch scored 12 points, all on 3-pointers. Emily Krumpe had 12 points with eight rebounds, Bri Rispress scored seven points with eight rebounds and Esposito had five points.