VAN n It was a bit of a scare but the Man High School girls’ basketball team was able to come away with a 47-33 victory over homestanding Van on Wednesday night in the Class A sectional tourney at Van.

Man (18-5) moves on to Saturday night’s sectional title game against No. 4-ranked Gilbert (21-1), which received the first-round bye.

Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Van.

Man is 1-2 against Gilbert in three meetings this season.

The Lady Billies led Van 8-0 after one quarter and 16-8 at the half.

The Lady Bulldogs then outscored Man 14-7 in the third to pull to within 23-22.

Man then put the game away with a 24-11 fourth quarter.

“We didn’t shoot well in the first half,” Man coach Tonia Ward said. “We were only up by one point at the half. Van played hard. That’s the best I’ve seen them play this year. We pulled it out in the fourth quarter.”

Malorie Keffer led the Lady Billies with 18 points.

Tabby Johnston had 10, Marlena Frye nine, Paige Stacy six and Malorie Vance and Courtney Browning had two each.

Stacy had sat out the previous three games with an ankle injury.

“I had to put Paige in the game late,” Ward said. “We needed a big person inside.”

Kristen Jarrell paced Van with 12 points.

Erin Beth Cook had nine, Megan Pauley eight and Savannah Holland and Hannah Brown had two each.

The Lady Billies made 8-of-10 from the foul line.

Man had routed Van twice during the season by 69-28 and 74-29 scores.

The Lady Billies beat Gilbert 56-53 in the last meeting between the two teams.