West Lafayette — As its all-time leading scorer, Nicole Rogers left a permanent mark on Western’s girls basketball program long before her time was up.

The Panther senior is ready to leave an even more unmistakable stamp, however.

After a sterling performance in Friday’s 72-26 thrashing of Peru in the Class 3A West Lafayette Sectional semifinals, Western will play for its first sectional championship since 1989, nearly five years before any of the current players were born.

After having to endure the turnover associated with four coaches in four years, Rogers and the Panthers are ready to put that behind them and make the most of the opportunity in a sectional that was turned on its ear after No. 5-ranked Benton Central was ousted by Twin Lakes in the opening round Tuesday night. Western will face Twin Lakes into tonight’s finals after the Indians outlasted Northwestern 45-41 in Friday’s first semifinal.

“At the beginning of the year, we had to work really hard to get used to [coach Chris Keisling’s] system,” Rogers said. “We picked it up pretty well. We have a great team, and this is what we’ve been working towards. We are close to accomplishing that goal now.

“We made it to the [sectional] championship when I was a sophomore and got beat by Benton Central. To win it my senior year, the first one since ‘89, would be big,” the Indiana All-Star candidate added.

Rogers, an IUPUI commit, led the Panthers (16-6) in Friday’s rout with 21 points and eight rebounds as Western clicked on all cylinders for the final three quarters after a sluggish start. Rogers eclipsed the 1,500-point mark for her career.

The Panthers hit just 5 of 17 shots from the floor in the first eight minutes as they struggled to find holes in Peru’s 2-2-1 zone defense. Even so, Western took a 13-4 lead into the second period after holding Peru (8-13) to a 1-for-4 performance from the floor in the opening stanza.

It was a switch on the defensive end which sparked an offensive surge that buried the Tigers, though.

“It wasn’t anything we didn’t expect, but it’s the only team we see during the season that runs the 2-2-1,” Keisling said. “At times we didn’t handle it right, so we decided to make a defensive adjustment to run and jump at them a little bit to speed up the tempo. That, with our half-court trap, changed things around for us defensively. It allowed us to spread the floor offensively and break it up.”

Western grabbed eight steals in the first half, and started to find a rhythm in transition as the halftime lead swelled to 16 at 30-14. The Panthers held Peru to a 4-for-13 performance from the field in the first half while turning the Bengals over 14 times.

Rogers scored 10 points in the third quarter, keying a 16-0 run to start the second half to put any thought of a comeback away. Western took a comfortable 54-17 lead into the final stanza as most of the starters became spectators.

Western scored 33 points off of Peru’s 26 turnovers and hit a blistering 50 percent (11 of 22) from beyond the arc. Carley O’Neal added 17 points for the Panthers on 7 of 12 shooting from the floor, while Jessica Givens added a trio of treys and finished with 13 points.

Western has won six in a row heading into Saturday’s championship game.

“The kids have really bought in to what we’ve been trying to teach all year long and it’s really starting to come together,” Keisling said. “We have things in place, but we simply have to follow through. We got one victory [Friday] night over an opponent, and [tonight] we have another huge game in which we have to be mentally focused for.

“One slip-up, as Benton Central found out, and you’re going home."

Western beat Twin Lakes 62-35 on Dec. 27 in the opening round of the Twin Lakes Holiday Tournament.

Twin Lakes 45, Northwestern 41

The Indians took a 32-30 lead into the fourth and started the period on a 10-3 run to surge ahead 42-33 with 2:30 to play. Northwestern had managed just three field goal attempts to that point in the final stanza but immediately turned things in the right direction, led by senior Kylie Ballard.

Ballard hit a pair of free throws at the 2:20 mark, and on NW’s next possession, hit a scoop shot from the block after being fouled hard. Her freebie pulled the Purple Tigers (9-11) to within 42-38 with 1:57 to play.

Twin Lakes missed a breakaway layup and the front ends of two one-and-bonus situations before Ballard’s trey from the corner pulled NW within one at 42-41 with 12 ticks left on the clock.

Chloe McAchren, TL’s hero from Tuesday’s upset of BC, hit one of a double-bonus with 10.6 seconds left, but the Indians were given the ball back four seconds later when the Tigers were called for a travel, their 24th turnover of the game. A defensive mixup allowed TL’s Coryn Tirpak to score a breakaway layup as the final buzzer rang out.

“We just didn’t do a good job of managing the game there late,” TL coach Brad Bowsman said. “We had the lead, and we need to understand that we don’t need to force things in that situation and take better care of the basketball.”

The Indians (11-11) scored 24 points off of turnovers and out-scored Northwestern 17-0 in bench points.

Ballard, a University of Indianapolis recruit, finished with a game-high 21 points and six rebounds. Kadi Miller added nine points for the Tigers in her final game.

“I told the girls that without a doubt, all year long I never doubted their fight and determination,” NW coach Todd Miller said. “At times, we just didn’t take care of the ball. The execution wasn’t there at times this season, and it was the same [scenario Friday]. We just needed some big plays and couldn’t come up with them.

“But, the competitive spirit and hustle — I don’t think you can question that.”

Renae Cotner scored 14 points off the bench to lead the Indians, and Tirpak added 13 points and eight boards.