COLUMBUS, Ohio—State championships hold a special place in the scholastic sports landscape. They’re the banner hanging in the gym for years after the team has graduated and moved on. They’re the trophy in a glass case in the lobby with a faded net hanging over it that folks squint to look at when getting some popcorn at halftime. They’re the topic of conversations at class reunions for years even among classmates who didn’t take part in the program. And they’re that thing that teams across every state nationwide dream of and work for across their entire careers. It’s an elusive and elite accomplishment in any sport and a memory to last a lifetime.
Saturday the state of Ohio crowned four new champions in each classification for the 2018 season. As one of the premier settings for girls scholastic basketball, the Buckeye State annually produces a litany of players with promising collegiate careers in front of them at all levels. In turn, each of those Saturday championship contests included exceptional performances, players as well as some of the coaching that helped them reach that level.
To see how all eight teams reached the finals in their respective classes, follow the links below to our coverage of both days of semifinal action from Columbus.
https://bluestarmedia.org/ohio-state-tournament-2018-day-one/
https://bluestarmedia.org/ohio-state-tournament-2018-day-two/
Today we look at the championship match-ups from the OHSAA State Tournament. Pickerington Central and Solon went at it in Division I while Division II featured Gilmour Academy (Last year’s D-III champions) and Toledo Rogers. In Division III Africentric faced off with Versailles while the Division IV final was fought between Minster and Ottoville.
The Division I championship game was the proverbial “tale of two halves”. Solon came out aggressive and attacking on the interior leading to a 12 – 10 edge after one period of play. It wasn’t until 3:08 to go in the second that Pickerington Central took their first lead on a Madison Greene three pointer but the Comets held their ground and took a one point lead into the break. The third period belonged completely to the Tigers. They led by as many as 14 before Solon regrouped and cut the margin to 41 – 35 with just one quarter to play. The Tigers kept a two possession lead throughput the fourth until Solon senior Mariah Modkins nailed a three to make it 47 – 45 with just 56 seconds remaining in the game. Solon got two chances to tie or take the lead but passed up an easy look and had a shot attempt stripped ultimately coming up on the short end of a 49 – 45 final score as Pickerington Central claimed the programs record seventh state championship.
The Tigers had one more field goal on the evening connecting on 17 of 45 attempts while the Comets were 16 for 44. Both teams knocked down 8 three pointers with PC going 8 for 18 while Solon was 8 of 24. The Tigers had a small edge on the boards as well at 32 – 29 plus forced three more turnovers than they committed (16-13).
Greene again paced the scoring for Pickerington Central posting 16 points on 4 of 8 shooting including a 3 for 3 effort behind the arch. Senior Kyla Whitehead added 9 points and 5 rebounds while classmate Adrian Crockwell added 9 and 4 boards of her own. Tiger junior forward Jada Tate had a team leading 11 rebounds for the game. Valencia Myers led Solon with a double – double of 15 points and 12 rebounds. Modkins added 10 more while shooting 4 of 6 including 2 for 4 from deep in the loss. Pickerington Central’s seventh title comes with a 28 and 2 record while Solon closes the book on a 26 and 3 season.
It’s not that Toledo Rogers played that well. And it’s not that Gilmour Academy played that bad either. It is, however, the simple fact that Coach Lamar Smith and the Rams had Zia Cooke…and the Lancers did not. The junior guard took the fate of her team on her back and put on a show they’ll be talking about for quite a while to come. Don’t jump too far ahead, it’s still not like they ran away from Gilmour, it was just a seven point game entering the fourth. Cooke and the Rams actually trailed by four at the half despite her having already accounted for 16 of their 21 first half points. She produced seven more in the third before piling 11 more on in the final quarter to ultimately finish with 33 in Rogers 51 – 37 win. Oh yeah, she also had 14 rebounds for good measure.
As a team the Rams were 20 of 44 from the floor for 45.5 percent. Gilmour struggled to finish coming home 13 for 50 at an ice cold 26.0 percent. The Lancers won the glass pulling 37 rebounds to 33 for Rogers. Both teams took care of the ball for the most part as the Rams turned it over 10 times while Gilmour gave it up on 13 occasions.
Obviously Cooke was in a zone. On the night she was 14 for 23 including 2 of 5 from three point range. As mentioned earlier the junior also finished with 14 rebounds and added two assists to the cause. Naz Hillmon once again paced Gilmour’s efforts with 16 points and 19 rebounds. The senior forward was 5 of 12 from the floor and 6 of 12 from the line. No other Lancer was able to hit double figures. Rogers claims their first state crown in three trips to Columbus with a final record of 27 and 3 while Gilmour wraps up their campaign at 25 and 4.
In Ohio “Rare Air” is possessing six OHSAA State Championships trophies. Saturday Africentric joined Mt. Notre Dame, Pickerington Central and South Euclid Regina in that elite class of program with their hard fought win over a physical Versailles team, the 2017 state runner-up. The Lady Nubians appeared to be in control from the start and even held a double digit lead in the second period. However the Tigers didn’t post 28 wins this season by rolling over because an opponent made a run. Before the break they got it down to nine and entered the locker room trailing 30 – 21. Senior guard Kami McEldowney got 10 of her 16 points in the third period for Versailles as they cut the lead to just five at 42 – 37. Lindsey Winner’s lay-up with 5:06 to go gave the Tigers their first lead since early in the first period but it was short lived as Africentric went on a 11 – 4 run to finish the game posting the 53 – 47 win for title number six.
Both teams had their ups and downs shooting the ball. The Lady Nubians were 20 of 52 on the day for 38.5 percent while Versailles came home 17 of 44 for 38.6 percent. Surprisingly, the Tigers won the rebounding war 36 – 30 which included 15 on the offensive end of the floor. However they could only post 7 second chance points from those extra looks. Africentric had just 9 turnovers but forced Versailles into 17 which they in turn converted to 26 points of their own.
Dynamic sophomore Alexia Smith was a force from the start. Shooting 9 of 16 from the floor she finished with 22 points scoring effectively both in halfcourt and transition. Highly regarded Jordan Horston posted 13 more while pulling a team leading 8 rebounds including a critical offensive board on a missed free throw with just 56 seconds remaining. McEldowney led the Tigers in the loss with 16. She was 5 of 13 overall but got 3 to drop from deep over a 3:35 stretch in the third period. Sophomore Lindsey Winner was impressive with 8 points and 9 rebounds while older sister Danielle, a senior, finished with 7 and 8. Africentric will hang that sixth banner with a 27 and 3 record on it while Versailles lays claim to a memorable 28 and 2 season.
It’s hard to imagine that there’s a “good” way to lose a state championship game but there certainly can be some ways worse than others to come up short. Ottoville may have found a couple of them in their Division IV championship battle with Minster. Jumping out to a 10 point lead in the first quarter can give you plenty of confidence, as it did the Lady Green, but any team who’s made it to the state final isn’t going to roll over and simply hand over the hardware. Flash forward to the second half and Minster now has all the momentum behind the play of freshman guard Janae Hoying but Ottoville’s senior forward Bridget Landin returns to the game after sitting for foul issues and reels of eight points to stop the bleeding and make it just a one point deficit for Ottoville entering the final period of play. Unfortunately for the Lady Green and Landin a collision at the 6:49 mark sent her to the floor, training room and bench for the remainder of the game. Before all was said and done that one point margin had grown to 15 and the Wildcats were cutting down the nets for their third state title.
Out of the gate Minster trailed 12 – 2 but found their footing to right the ship and trail just 24 – 20 at the half. Ottoville shot 56.3 percent over the first two periods but the Wildcats stayed close enough while shooting just 40.0 percent themselves. A 21 – 16 run in the third turned the tide as Hoying had 7 of her 15 in a critical stretch to provide a 41 – 40 edge. Things went back and forth early in the final period but Landin’s early departure opened the door for Minster and they walked through it with a 16 – 0 run over the last 4:45 to post a 63 – 48 win.
The Wildcats were led by junior forward Courtney Prenger’s 17 points on 7 for 11 shooting. The impressive freshman backcourt duo of Hoying and Ivy Wolf each had 15 while senior Taylor Kogge finished with 12. Landin was one of three Ottoville players putting up 13 points. Fellow senior Amber Miller and junior Kasey Knippen joined Landin with a Baker’s Dozen. Minster won the battle on the boards 25 – 22 and had just 8 turnovers to 17 miscues for Ottoville. The new State Champions finish the season at 26 and 3 while Ottoville wraps up a strong year with a 27 and 3 mark.
