NORTHMONT — Covington saw its season end in the opening round of Northmont D-III sectional play on Thursday in a 49-26 loss to fifth seeded Springfield Shawnee.

And the Buccaneers’ downfall wasn’t due to a lack of effort. Instead, it was due to the inability to finish near the rim, which has been Covington’s achilles heel for much of the season.

The trend started from the outset as Covington just couldn’t buy a basket despite having consistent success getting shots off near the rim. It wasn’t until nearly five minutes went off the clock before the Buccaneers were able to connect on their first bucket on a runner by Cam Kirker.

Fortunately, the Buccaneer defense was stingy and prevented Shawnee from breaking the game open early. The Braves did hold a 3-2 lead when the Buccaneers scored their first bucket, but a huge three-pointer got Shawnee going as it pushed its lead to 11-2 after one.

While Shawnee heated up, Covington remained ice could from the floor as it only managed four points over the remainder of the half as the Braves pushed their lead to 24-6 at the break.

Covington started finding offensive success from long range in the second half as Tanner Palsgrove connected on a pair of three-pointers, while Bryson Hite, Carter Maxson and Owen Boehringer each connected on one a piece. However, the Buccaneers continued to struggle inside the paint as they only managed two buckets from point blank range.

It all resulted into 20 points scored by Covington in the second half, which wasn’t enough as Shawnee continued with its hot shooting to maintain a comfortable lead until the end.

Palsgrove led Covington with eight points.

With the loss the Buccaneers close out their season with a 5-17 record and see the high school careers of seven seniors come to an end.