COLUMBUS, Ohio – A whole season came down to four games Saturday in Columbus, Ohio with the championship contests in all classifications being decided on the home court of Ohio State University. Thursday and Friday’s semifinals set up the showdowns for bragging rights in one of the nation’s most talent rich states in girls scholastic basketball. Things got underway early with a much anticipated D-II match up of unbeatens as Millersburg West Holmes faced Kettering Archbishop alter. On tap in the second game of the day were the Division IV finalists of Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans and Reedsville Eastern. The Division III bragging right were up for grabs next with Columbus Africentric taking on Versailles followed in the D-I grand finale of Cincinnati Princeton and Canton North Hoover.
Over the course of three days, the 2014 OHSAA State Tournament saw a combined crowd of 43, 316 come through the gates for the largest turnout since the 2007 tournament.
Division II Final
Millersburg West Holmes 62 Kettering Archbishop Alter 45
Alter opened the battle of the Knights with a quick 7 – 0 lead behind the play of Emma Bockrath. West Holmes eventually got on track but posted just three points in the first period. Both teams were a combined 4 of 22 for the period reflective of a morning start, nerves and just good competition. Unfortunately for Alter things only got frostier for them as West Holmes warmed up. By the time the buzzer sounded at the half the Millersburg version of the Knights had gone on a 23 – 7 run taking a 23 -14 lead into the locker room. Making that run all the more impressive was West Holmes standout Laina Snyder scoring only two points which came on two free throws with just 11.6 seconds remaining in the half. Alter shot only 25 percent and turned the ball over nine time contributing to their deficit.
Things didn’t warm up much for Alter in the third either. They connected on 2 of 13 attempts and despite putting 10 points on the board saw the lead jump to 42 – 24 over the quarter. Surprisingly Laina Snyder was still without a field goal after three but senior point guard Emily Molnar produced eight points for West Holmes during the run. The fourth saw Alter final get some shots to fall (7 of 18) however they couldn’t cut the margin to less than 17 and even saw it balloon as high as 23 before all was said and done. West Holmes laid claim to their fourth state title and avenged back to back runner up spots the past two seasons with a final score of 62 – 45.
Senior Paiten Strother led the way for the champs with 18 that came on 6 of 10 shooting including 3 for 5 from deep. Molnar was the catalyst throughout finishing with 15 points and 4 assists in 28 minutes of play. While Snyder had just one field goal and finished with eight points she still led the way on the boards with 11. Freshman Libby Bazelak had 16 for Alter and 6 of the team’s 14 total makes in the loss. Bockrath, a junior, had nine but shot just 1 of 8 from the floor and committed 4 turnovers. High profile freshman guard Braxtin Miller continued to struggle offensively (2 for 17 two game total) but continues to provide a strong on ball defensive presence.
As a team West Holmes competed 17 of 35 from the floor for 48.6 percent to just 27.5 for Alter. They also held a 32 – 26 edge on the glass despite surrendering 12 offensive rebounds. Alter did force 19 turnovers defensively but could only convert for 15 points on the other end. West Holmes was impressive from the line knocking down 23 of 25 attempts including six players who were perfect for the game.
Both teams had unblemished records entering the game. Alter has just three seniors on the roster and only one in the starting lineup. West Holmes has three seniors as well but replacing Molnar, Strother and Snyder will prove to be a mountainous task for Coach Lisa Patterson. One she’ll worry about sometime after the celebration ends in Millersburg.
Division IV Final
Reedsville Eastern 49 Bishop Rosecrans 38
As with the day’s first game, the shooting percentages for Reedsville Eastern and Bishop Rosecrans were less than stellar out of the gate. Following the first period they were a combined 8 of 28 with Eastern holding an 11 – 8 edge in points on the scoreboard. Jenna Burdette, who had 38 in the semis, connected on just one of her five attempts in the first quarter. The second saw Eastern warm up a bit going 4 for 8 as a team and opening up a slight lead of eight with just under a minute to go. Rosecrans cut it to six before the break but continued struggling to convert shooting just 26 percent over the first two periods. Freshman Laura Pullins had a pair of threes to pace Eastern while Molly Nash had six points and nine boards for Rosecrans.
Burdette found her way in the third finishing with 12 of her final total of 24 points. The 5-8 senior opened the quarter with back to back jumpers, one a three pointer, to extend the lead to 11. Rosecrans battled throughout cutting the lead to just four on two Molly Nash freethrows at the 2:17 mark but that was as close as they would get before the end of the period . Entering the fourth, the Eagles still held a six point margin at 36 – 30. After trading hoops, Kloie Johnson got the Bishops within two on a three pointer at the 4:28 mark only to see Eastern go on a 10 to 1 run to take care of business and claim their first ever state title.
Burdette’s 24 came on 9 of 17 shooting, 7 for 9 in the second half alone. She had four rebounds including one critical offensive pull in the third. Her five turnovers were offset to a degree by her three steals. Freshman Laura Pullins finished with six as did seniors Jordan parker and Katie Keller. Molly Nash had a deceiving double-double. Her 15 points were in spite of just a 2 of 10 effort from the floor and included 11 out of 17 attempts at the line. Nash also had 15 boards in her final high school game. Senior Kloie Johnson tallied eight points while Maddie Chandler, an athletic guard and safety on the football team, had some strong moments finishing with six points and seven boards.
Reedsville Eastern took the win despite shooting 38.6 percent from the floor as a team. The fact that Rosecrans could manage no better than 23.8 themselves made the cold shooting more palatable for the Eagles. Eastern controlled the boards by two and had three less turnovers on their way to the title. All ten starters in the contest were seniors opening the doors to the possibility that Division IV could be wide open in 2015.
Division III Final
Columbus Africentric 49 Versailles 37
While teams were ice cold in the first two games and missing wide open looks, Africentric’s Alexa Hart single handedly put Versailles field goal percentage in the tank during the first period. Prior to picking up her second personal with 1:02 to go, the 6-2 ultra-long forward recorded six blocks and had every Tiger thinking twice before putting up a shot. After eight minutes Hart and the Lady Nubians had jumped out to a 16 – 6 lead and Versailles was just 1 of 11 from the floor. With Coach Will McKinney choosing to keep and protect his shot blocker on the bench the entire second period, Versailles finally began getting some better looks inside and cut the lead to six. Some feisty on ball defense led to several transition hoops for Africentric and the margin blossomed back to 15. The teams both had solid moments the rest of the half with the Tigers closing the gap to 29 – 20 at the break. Sierra Harley had 12 off the bench to pace the Lady Nubians shooting 4 for 6 from the floor and connecting on both of her attempts from long range.
Hart returned to play to start the second half and immediately went to work offensively by attacking effectively in traffic. Though she just converted four field goals across the entire game, her presence and threat around the rim forced Versailles to collapse their defense and by the 2:23 mark of the third the lead had grown to back to 15. The Tigers were not going quietly into the night and held Africentric scoreless until the end of the quarter. Unfortunately, their offense came up empty as well leaving them on the short end of 41 – 26 entering the fourth. Versailles kept things within reach. Three times the lead was trimmed to 10 but the Lady Nubians weren’t about to concede any more than that although nobody was relaxing until the one minute mark when the celebrating began in the stands. Africentric became the third school in OHSAA to claim four state titles by way of a 49 – 37 final score.
Hart produced just nine points on 4 of 9 shooting but it was her defensive impact early (six blocks) and presence later that influenced the Versailles offensive struggles. Fellow senior Harley only added two more in the second half but led the way in the win with 14 while another 2014, Alexis Parks, added 12 of her own. Nobody hit double digits for the Tigers. Junior Christina Puthoff and Senior Emily Harmon both finished with nine. Puthoff added six boards while senior Amanda Winner and long perimeter junior Laura Bruns had five apiece.
Africentric shot just 37.7 percent but it was enough as Versailles could only convert 11 of 40 attempts for 27.5 percent on the night. The Tigers did win the rebounding battle by two but their 24 turnovers far outdistanced Africentic’s total of 14.
Division l Final
Cincinnati Princeton 61 Canton North Hoover 55
Hoover came in knowing that as Kelsey Mitchell goes, so goes Princeton. Unfortunately in the first period Mitchell went, and went…and went some more. After the first eight minutes passed, Princeton had outscored Hoover and so had Mitchell. The 5-7 guard had 15 of Princeton’s 19 points while Hoover tallied just 13 during the quarter. Hoover got a grasp on things in the second holding the McDonald’s All-American to just three points over the period. Unfortunately a three pointer from Jada Ballew and a Mitchell layup in the last 31 seconds turned a two point game into a seven point margin at the half, 31 – 24. Mitchell was 5 for 10 from the floor and 7 of 8 at the line for her 18 points. Hoover’s Kaylee Stroemple got 11 of her own on a 3 for 6 effort plus a perfect 5 of 5 at the line. Princeton had a one rebound advantage for the half plus they had forced Hoover into three more turnovers than their own total of 5.
In the third Hoover quickly cut the lead to five only to see Princeton run it back up to 12 in just 44 seconds. Things stayed in double digits until an unanswered run of six over the last 2:23 of the quarter made it a 44 – 38 Princeton advantage going into the final period. Carlie Pogue had six in the third for Princeton while Julie Worley added five for Hoover. A slow start to the fourth saw Hoover knock a point off the deficit but then the Vikings from Cincinnati hit high gear and quickly got the lead to 14 on two different occasions with contributions from everyone in the starting lineup. Hoover mounted one last run starting at the 3:12 mark behind the play of Stroemple and Worley cutting the lead to seven twice and ultimately just four with just 18 seconds remaining. Hoover had to resort to committing the foul and, appropriately, Kelsey Mitchel added the final two free throws to cap a 61 – 55 win and their first state title since 1987.
Mitchell led all players with 30 on the night. She finished 7 for 15 from the floor but connected on 15 of 17 freethrows for a two night total of 53 points. Pogue continues to advance her game each night out as she finished with a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds including 8 instrumental offensive boards. She also contributed three assists and four blocks. Stroemple again led Hoover with a double-double of her own with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Worley was a thorn in Princeton’s side finishing with 18 points on an eye catching 8 for 12 shooting performance. Marquia Turner, usually a strong offensive threat, struggled from the floor shooting just 2 for 12 in the loss.
Hoover shot 37.7 percent as a team while Princeton came in just behind that at a 36.8 clip. Both teams collected three from deep but Princeton held the edge at the line getting 16 of 18 while Hoover converted 12 of 16. Princeton had a three rebound edge on the glass with the difference coming on the critical offensive boards 15 to 12. Hoover turned it over 16 times while Princeton gave it up just 13 for the game.
