Friday, March 19, 1999
OHIO GIRLS STATE ROUNDUP
Defense rules on opening day
BY RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — One thing was perfectly clear from the first day of the 24th annual girls state basketball tournament, being played for the final time at St. John Arena.
Defense wins championships.
Only Bascom Hopewell-Loudon, which gained revenge with a 69-57 victory over No. 1-ranked Berlin Hiland, ever hit its stride offensively Thursday. And the Chieftains' attack was fueled by their fullcourt pressure and transition game.
In the other Division IV semi, South Charleston Southeastern subjected North Robinson Colonel Crawford to a series of scoring lulls to take a 42-28 win.
In the Division II semifinals, both Dayton Chaminade-Julienne and Lima Bath used late surges to earn spots in Saturday's championship game.
Chaminade-Julienne picked up five points apiece from Megan Duffy and Elise Ryder in a 14-0 run that resulted in a 43-30 victory over Dresden Tri-Valley.
Teresa Kahle scored 26 points — including six of Bath's final seven — and led the charge in a late 9-0 run in a 48-44 win over Tallmadge.
The player of the year in Division IV, DiDi Reynolds, more than lived up to her press clippings by scoring 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds for Hopewell-Loudon.
The 6-1 senior, headed for Ohio State this fall, made 8-of-12 shots from the field — including her one 3-point attempt, a pivotal shot in the game — and was 7-of-8 at the line. In addition to her 12 rebounds, she added five assists, two blocked shots and a steal. And she had to sit out a few minutes because of foul trouble.
The victory was sweet revenge for Hopewell-Loudon (26-1), which sustained its only loss of the season at the hands of Berlin Hiland, 67-62.
“At the start of the tournament, we looked at it as if there were eight parts to it. After every game, we took one down,” Hopewell-Loudon coach Doug Reynolds said. “Maybe in the back of our minds, we were thinking about this game. But we knew we had to take care of business.”
Hopewell took control with an 11-0 run in the third quarter that was powered by its press. Hiland (26-1) never got closer than five points again.
Lindsay Borer added 13 points and Norris and Gase each had 11 for the Chieftains, who hit 55 percent of their shots from the field.
Jenny Todd and first-team all-stater Erin Hostetler scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, for Hiland.
In the nightcap, third-team All-Ohioan Stephanie Campbell scored 16 points and South Charleston Southeastern (26-1) held an opponent under 30 points for the 14th time this season.
“Our defensive average in the tournament is 28 points a game,” coach Brent Bower said. “To us, it's exciting when you hold a team to under 30 points.”
The victory was the 19th in a row for the No. 2-ranked Trojans, who won the small-school title three years ago and is making its fourth trip to the final four.
Colonel Crawford (24-3) had scoring droughts of 61/2, 6 and 6 minutes in the game.
The Eagles, led by Janel Swinehart's 11 points, never got closer than nine points in the fourth quarter.
In Division II, Chaminade-Julienne (25-2) salved its year-old wounds.
The Eagles lost in last year's Division I title game, then said goodbye to graduating Ms. Basketball Tamika Williams and three other starters.
“No one really expected us to be here again this year. I'm not sure we did ourselves,” said Ryder, the only returning starter who led the Eagles with 14 points in their comeback game. “But it's like all of a sudden you look around and ... we're baaaack!”
Freshman point guard Megan Duffy hit a layup and then popped in a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter to break the game open for C-J. Duffy finished with 13 points.
Duffy's two quick baskets touched off a 14-0 run before the Scotties (22-4) scored in the final seconds.
Tri-Valley didn't have a player hit double figures, with honorable mention All-Ohioan Tai Kirk and Ashley Gallogly leading the way with seven points apiece.
In the second game, Kahle, a 6-foot senior, scored 10 of Bath's 21 fourth-quarter points, but she wasn't alone.
Nicki King, an honorable-mention all-stater, started a 9-0 run by hitting a 3-pointer from the right corner.
Bath went into its fullcourt press and Mandy Vermillion stole the ball then fed King for the layup. King was fouled on the bucket and missed the free throw, but Kahle rebounded and scored inside.
Kahle then added a turnaround jumper and scored again inside with 1:09 left to make it 47-42 and give the Wildcats their 15th win in a row.
“I thought our inside people, especially Teresa, really stepped up and played in the second half and worked hard and got some big baskets,” Bath coach Greg Mauk said. “Playing C-J is going to be tough because they play such good defense. They make you work on every possession.”
Kim Griech, a special-mention all-stater for unranked Tallmadge (22-5), poured in 22 points.
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