Pressure cooked: Defense, size too much for Saints

NORWALK — For about 10 minutes, the Southview girls basketball team showed it could stay with Toledo Waite, ranked No. 3 in the state.

Unfortunately for the Saints, Tuesday night’s game lasted 32 minutes.

Waite used a 21-3 run to end the first half after Southview took an early lead in the first quarter. The Indians kept pulling away in the second half en route to a 73-34 victory in the Division I Regional Semifinal at Norwalk High School.

“We came out and battled,” Southview head coach Scott Plzak said. “I think we surprised them a bit. All of a sudden the pressure came and we did not take care of the basketball.”

Southview had a difficult time getting past the Indians’ physical full-court press, led by athletic Natasha Howard in the middle.

The 6-foot-3 All-American senior helped her team force 34 turnovers.

She also finished with a game-high 28 points, including 10 in the critical third quarter.

Southview’s junior standout Shanique Ogle hit a 3-point shot early in the second quarter to give her team a 13-9 lead.

Waite’s 21-3 run made the score 30-16 at halftime.

The run continued into the third quarter, as the Indians pushed their lead to 50-20 in the third quarter.

“We knew they were going to come after us, and we panicked,” Ogle said. “We just lost focus when the pressure came.”

After the competitive first quarter, Waite outscored the Saints by 40, 64-24.

Ogle finished with a team-high 22 points. She was continually able to get to the rim early on, making three layups driving to her right in the first quarter.

Southview held a 10-9 advantage after the first eight minutes.

But Waite soon turned the defensive pressure up after falling behind early.

Six-foot-two junior Shanice McNeal was a dominating presence inside, scoring 21 points. The height and athleticism of Howard and McNeal helped the Indians out-rebound Southview 53-28.

Howard had 12 rebounds in the first half.

Ogle had to be substituted out with five minutes remaining in the second quarter after picking up her second personal foul. That’s when the devastating run got out of hand.

“We turned the ball over a ridiculous amount of times,” Plzak said. “That led to easy points the other way.”

The two teams each had 18 turnovers heading into halftime. The difference was that the majority of Southview’s turnovers happened near Waite’s basket, resulting in easy layups.

Any chance for a Southview comeback was put to rest when the Indians began the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run.

Ogle took the brunt of the scoring responsibility, as no other Saint recorded more than four points.

“Our plan on defense was to keep (Ogle) in control,” Howard said. “We did what we had to do.”

Senior guard Mariah Haynes added 12 points for Waite.

The future is uncertain for many Southview players as the school will consolidate with Admiral King in the offseason. However, the Saints did not have many problems with the way their last season as Southview ended.

“Overall I felt we did well this year,” said Marisol Torres, who scored Southview’s last basket. “We went hard in every practice and game. We accomplished a lot this season, especially winning the district championship.”

Torres, Tanitra Smith, Valancia Frymier and Shanel Melendez each played in their final high school basketball game.

The Saints were underdogs in the playoffs against Westlake and needed a late comeback to defeat Cloverlead in the district finals.

“We played hard, and I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” Plzak said. “We are district champs, that’s what I’m going to take away from this.”

Waite will move on to play the winner of the Perrysburg vs. Brecksville-Broadview Heights game in the regional finals on March 13.

Clutch free throws lead Cardinals to OT win

WESTLAKE — Mike Harrison and Hunter Skolnicki hit clutch free throws in overtime to help Brookside upset Holy Name 60-56 at the Division II Sectional Final at Westlake High School.

With less than 20 seconds left and the score tied at 56, Skolnicki hit a pair from the line. Harrison then hit two more to ensure the Cardinals’ victory.

“I had been practicing a lot, so I was confident,” said Skolnicki, who was playing with a broken middle finger on his right hand. “After that, I just had to focus and get over the crowd.”

Harrison finished with 10 points, including four free throws and a key rebound in overtime.

“Mike is not our best free throw shooter on the team,” Brookside coach Brent Schremp said, “but he kept his head in the game and handled the pressure.”

Brookside (11-11) spent much of the first half gaining momentum and extending its lead. By the middle of the third quarter, the Cardinals held a 41-31 advantage.

However, a 10-0 run by the Green Wave (14-7) tied the score at 41 with five minutes left in the game.

After exchanging five travelling violations in a two minute span, Brookside senior Stefan Moody hit a 3-point shot to give his team a 46-43 lead.

Moody made a layup in traffic to extend the lead to five, but Holy Name senior Corey Elliot made a 3-pointer soon after to bring the score to 48-46 with 20.7 second remaining in regulation.

On the next posession, Holy Name fouled Chris Matthias, who missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

Holy Name controlled the rebound, and with 6.1 seconds left, junior Seamus Day found himself wide open under the basket after a back cut. He made the easy layup to tie the game at 48.

Brookside junior Art Howell missed a halfcourt shot, landing out of bounds with less than a second left.

Holy named attempted to inbound the ball, but it sailed high and got stuck in a crossbeam near the ceiling. The ball went back to the Cardinals with a chance to win the game with .2 second left. A high lob near the basket was tapped away by Holy Name.

After trailing for much of the game, the Green Wave successfully extended the game.

“Fortunately for us, basketball is a game of ebbs and flows,” Schremp said. “We learned from our mistakes earlier in the year. We didn’t get too high or too low tonight.”

Holy name took its first lead since 4-0 with two free throws from Elliot, making the score 50-48.

The Cardinals quickly responded when senior Nick Jackman hit his second 3 of the game.

With the score 54-53 in favor of Brookside with 49 seconds left, Harrison came through with two free throws.

Elliot then hit another 3 to tie the game.

Brookside sealed its fate when Skolnicki and Harrison made their last four free throws.

“Coach makes me do extra free throws,” Harrison said. “I was pretty nervous after missing one earlier in overtime.”

The ability to consistently make free throws was the difference in the game. Brookside shot 16 of 22 (73 percent), while Holy Name shot 10 of 22 (45 percent) from the line.

“We are usually a good free throw shooting team,” Holy Name head coach Mark Krakowiak said. “We missed a lot of shot we should have made. It just wasn’t our night.”

Senior Matt Heben led the Green Wave with 14 points. Senior Kevin Krakowiak and Elliot added 10 and 12, respectively.

Moody led Brookside with 17 points. Jackman added 15.

The Cardinals will move on to play Bay in the district semifinals on Wednesday. Brookside started the tournament with a comeback victory over Keystone.

“We said all week that if we can establish a tournament mentality, pick up the pressure and intensity, good things can happen,” Schremp said.