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A typical Carey victory
ELIDA – It was, essentially, a typical Carey victory.
Except for the magnitude, of course.
The Blue Devils did everything right in the final minute Saturday night to fight off Midland Athletic League rival New Riegel  and make its first regional appearance magical with a 48-45 victory in a Division IV championship game at the Elida Fieldhouse.
The Blue Devils’ second win of the season over the Blue Jackets boosted their record to 23-2 and put them in Thursday’s state semifinals against defending state champion Berlin Hiland at Ohio State’s Value City Arena in Columbus. New Riegel ended its season at 21-4.
“Somebody steps up every possession,” first-year Carey coach Phil Vaughn said. “At one time somebody hits a three, the next time somebody else hits a shot. It’s just been that kind of a year.”
It was that kind of a stretch run on Saturday night against a New Riegel team largely composed of players who had played key roles in a 2008 run to the state semifinals.
“We came this close,” said 24th-year Blue Jackets coach Steve Lucius, whose two previous regional appearances brought state bids. “It came down to a one- or two-possession game. Most of the time when we’ve got a one- or two- or three-point lead like that, we’re going to close out. We almost always do … I really thought we were in good shape when we came all the way back (from trailing by as many as seven points in the first half) and got the lead. But we had a few problems with injuries and cramping and stuff going on, and it kind of altered some things we wanted to do there, especially late in the game when Jami (Wagner) got hurt.”
Wagner, New Riegel’s fine junior point guard, injured an ankle and missed the game’s final 32.4 seconds. Five seconds before that, the Blue Devils’ Karrah Windau scored on a drive for a 46-45 lead.
New Riegel ‘s Rachelle Lucius missed the front end of a one-and-one with 28 seconds to go, and Windau subsequently stashed two free throws to up the count to 48-45. The Jackets’ Paula Kelbley missed a pair of free throws with 13.2 seconds left, and after Windau missed from the foul line with 6.4 seconds left, Kelbley’s 3-point attempt from the left wing fell short of the rim at the buzzer.
Windau finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Hilary Wentling scored 10 points and Healy Batton passed for four assists.
Kelbley, playing despite an illness, scored 16 points, while Northwest District player of the year Lauren Hutton added 12 points and six rebounds for the Blue Jackets. Lucius snared eight rebounds and Wagner passed for four assists.
 
New Riegel (45)
Kelbley 5-11 6-8 16, Hutton 4-6 4-6 12, Wagner 4-8 0-0 9, Lucius 2-4 0-2 4, Mathias 2-5 0-0 4, Hughes 0-4 0-0 0, Scherger 0-0 0-0 0, Wank 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-38 10-16 45.
Carey (48)
Windau 5-15 2-3 13, Wentling 4-8 0-0 10, Batton 3-7 0-0 6, Vaughn 2-6 0-0 6, Distel 2-5 1-3 5, Hill 2-3 0-0 Holsinger 2-5 0-0 4, Spurlock 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-49 3-6 48.
New Riegel   12 7 17 9 — 45
Carey   17 7 11 13 — 48
3-Point GOALS: Carey 5-18 (Wentling 2-6, Vaughn 2-3, Windau 1-6, Batton 0-3); New Riegel 1-7 (Wagner 1-2, Mathias 0-2, Kelbley 0-1, Hutton 0-1, Hughes 0-1).
rebounds: New Riegel 29 (Lucius 8, Hutton 6); Carey 24 (Windau 8).
turnovers: New Riegel 13, Carey 8.
STEALS: Carey 6 (Distel 2); New Riegel 5 (Wagner 2).
ASSISTS: Carey 15 (Windau & Batton 4); New Riegel 10 (Wagner 4).

 

L-B is headed to state
By MARK HEIMAN
STAFF WRITER
LEXINGTON — It only took about 46 seconds to realize that things just might go Liberty-Benton’s way.
That’s when Amber Petersen banked in a 3-point shot.
The bank gave the Eagles a very early one-point lead, something they would never relinquish as the Eagles will take flight to their first state tournament after defeating Margaretta 55-35 in a Division III regional final at Lexington Saturday afternoon.
Liberty-Benton, which is 23-1, will face unbeaten South Euclid Regina (26-0) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Ohio High School Athletic Association state tournament in Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center. Regina, a five-time state champion, advanced with a 62-41 win over Smithville.
“The quick start was huge. Our last two games we’ve struggled to shoot it by our normal standards,” L-B coach Nate Irwin said. “I told the girls the last couple of days that we are too good of shooters to have three games like that.”
Just over a minute later, L-B freshman Caite Craft nailed the first of her three first-half 3-pointers. When Craft hit a pair of free throws to start the second quarter, the Eagles had pushed their lead to double figures, 17-6, and Margaretta (21-4) would never get the margin under 10.
Craft hit all three of her 3-point attempts and added 6 free throws to score 15 points. That came after Craft had scored just 13 points in her last three games and had not hit a shot from the field in the last two.
“I knew I needed to step up and shoot because they were going to be all over Amanda (Hyde) and Amber and Kate (Saums),” said Craft, who also handed out 3 assists. “I haven’t been shooting very well, but I just had to keep shooting. When I got one to fall it gave me more confidence to keep shooting.”
Craft’s shooting took Margaretta by surprise.
“Craft, we have never seen her make that many ‘3s’. She shot very well,” said veteran Margaretta coach Tim Tucker.
Those early 3-pointers, Saums added another in the first quarter, forced Margaretta, which had won 20 straight games, out of its zone. The Eagles ended up hitting 7 of 11 beyond the arc to give L-B 173 treys on the season.
“We felt once they went man-to-man they didn’t match up well with us off the dribble, because there was always one of those post players that had to guard someone on the perimeter,” Irwin said.
While Irwin was pleased with Craft’s offensive production he was just as impressed with her defense.
“Caite got off to a great start, but she also guarded their best player (Brittany Morris). We have done that the last three games with her,” Irwin said.
“The Morris girl plays so much like Amanda and (Caite) has to guard Amanda everyday in practice so she is prepared.”
Morris finished with a team-high 14 points, but missed 4 shots under the basket in the first half. The Polar Bears had trouble inside the entire game as they missed 16 shots within 10 feet of the basket.
“We missed easy bunny after easy bunny,” Tucker said.
“We thought we were getting a lot of contact inside and we weren’t getting any calls. We got called for a hook when they were pushing with their body.
“I wasn’t real happy with what was getting called on the floor. There was some contact down by us. I should have went out and asked (the officials) at that time what game they were watching.”
The Eagles were definitely shorter than Margaretta. Morris is 5-foot-10 and Jessica Meyer is 6-foot. But Meyer was limited to 3 points and L-B held a 29-19 rebounding advantage.
“Normally we front the post. But because of their capable shooters we decided to play behind them,” said Hyde, who led L-B with 22 points and 9 rebounds.
“We just bodied up and if you kept your hands up they couldn’t finish very well.”
Margaretta tried to make things interesting late. Liberty-Benton ran the clock from the 2:20 mark until just 28.8 seconds were left in the third quarter. But a turnover led to a Morris layup and after a Courtney Gennari steal, Morris hit a buzzer-beating ‘3’ to get Margaretta within 37-24.
But they wouldn’t get closer as L-B lived at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. The Eagles hit 13 of 19 foul shots and got a Saums’ trey, off the dribble while moving left, in the period to pull away.
But it was that early banked 3-pointer by Petersen that set the tone.

MARGARETTA (35)
Morris 6-16 0-0 14, Coy 4-7 1-2 11, Tucket 2-4 0-0 5, Meyer 1-7 1-2 3, Keegan 1-3 0-0 2, Sanchez 0-1 0-0 0, Weaver 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-40 2-4 35.
LIBERTY-BENTON (55)
Hyde 6-13 9-12 22, Craft 3-5 6-8 15, Saums 2-5 2-4 8, Petersen 2-4 0-1 5, Moore 1-1 3-5 5, K. Schroeder 0-0 0-0 0, Wanamaker 0-0 0-0 0, Moorhead 0-0 0-0 0, Snider 0-0 0-0 0, Terhark 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-28 20-30 55.
Margaretta   6 7 11 11 — 35
Liberty-Benton   15 15 7 18 — 55
3-POINT GOALS: Margaretta 5-11 (Morris 2-4, Coy 2-3, Tucker 1-2, Keegan 0-1, Weaver 0-1); Liberty-Benton 7-11 (Hyde 1-3, Craft 3-3, Saums 2-4, Petersen 1-1).
REBOUNDS: Margaretta 19 (Morris 7); Liberty-Benton 29 (Hyde 9, Saums 8).
TURNOVERS: Margaretta 12, Liberty-Benton 11.
Heiman: 419-427-8405,
markheiman@thecourier.com

Coldwater ices O-G
By DAVE HANNEMAN
Staff Writer
ELIDA — It said “Coldwater” on the uniforms. And they had ice water in their veins.
Down by 11 points at the half, Coldwater overcame Ottawa-Glandorf’s  frantic defensive pressure with poise and patience and made one clutch shot after another in beating the Titans, 58-54, in the boys Division III district final at the Elida Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon.
“We were playing scared, that’s what it came down to,” Coldwater coach Mike Kanney said after the Cavaliers, 17-6, won their first district championship since 1999.
“We had a nice heart to heart talk at the half. We talked about applying a little more pressure and creating some things on offense.
“Mostly we talked about not playing scared.”
Taylor Kuhlman’s 3-point play early in the third quarter not only gave O-G a 35-23 lead, it also sent Coldwater’s 6-foot-7 junior center Eric Lefeld to the bench with his third foul.
Instead of cracking, though, the Cavaliers roared back.
Joe Thomas and Zach Siefring hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Adam Rammel scored to trim O-G;’s lead to 35-31. Rammel nailed a jumper, Keith Wenning hit two free throws and 6-3 junior Tim Brunet, Lefeld’s replacement, scored twice to forge a 41-41 tie.
The third quarter would have ended that way. But Josh Johnson was fouled throwing up a long 3-pointer just before the buzzer, and his three free throws gave O-G a bit of a cushion entering the final period.
Ottawa-Glandorf nursed that slim lead through the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. Then Siefring, who led Coldwater with 13 points, nailed another “3” and Brunet popped in two fouls shots to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the game.
Jacob Moening answered for O-G. Taylor Kuhlman, the Titans standout all-Northwest Ohio guard, scored Ottawa-Glandorf’s next three baskets, the last tying the game 54-54 with under a minute left.
This time Coldwater had all the answers, though.
Tony Harlamert hit two free throws and Luke Grieshop, another reserve off the Coldwater bench, scored on a drive. Lefeld, back in the game, broke the 54-54 tie with a power move to the basket, then added two foul shots with 20 seconds left for the final margin.
“They made all their big shots when they needed to make them,” said O-G coach Josh Leslie.
“We had some open looks and didn’t make them. They had open looks and did make them. That’s what it came down to.”
Ottawa-Glandorf made 5-of-10 3-pointers and shot just under 53 percent (10-for-19) in building a 32-21 halftime lead. But the Titans were just 8-of-23 (0-for-6 on 3’s) in the second half as O-G, which won the Division III state championship last season, finished the year 21-3.
While Siefring was Coldwater’s only player ion double figures, Rammel, Wenning, Thomas and Lefeld all added 8 points and Brunet 7. Kuhlman led O-G with 14 points. Eric Brickner and Johnson added 9 each.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s scrambling, trapping, end-to-end defensive pressure is deigned to plant fear in the opposition. And for half the game, it did,
Coldwater committed 5 turnovers in the first quarter, never got into a smooth offensive flow, and slipped farther and farther behind as O-G went on one small run after another. The Titans opened the game with a 6-0 spurt, padded the margin to 19-10 on Brian Laubenthal’s  “3” to end the first period, and pushed the lead to double digits when Matt Peck’s free throw capped an 8-0 that put the Titans up 30-20.
“We had to guard them. They were getting too many open looks,” Kanney said after Coldwater switched from zone to man-to-man pressure.
Gradually, things turned.
“We did not attack their pressure well,” Leslie said. “We had some turnovers and those became automatic points for them.
“Give them credit, they fought back. They got some open looks and it seemed they made every jump shot they took.”
With ice water running through their veins.

Coldwater (58)
Siefring 5-10 1-3 13, Rammel 3-4 1-3 8, Wenning 3-6 1-2 8, Thomas 2-5 2-3 8, Lefeld 3-4 2-4 8, Brunet 3-4 1-1 7, Grieshop 2-2 0-0 4, Harlamert 0-1 2-2 2. TOTALS: 21-36 10-18—58.
Ottawa-Glandorf (54)
T. Kuhlman 6-13 1-3 14, Brickner 3-4 2-2 9, Johnson 2-6 3-3 9, Kaufman 3-5 1-2 7, Laubenthal 2-2 0-0 5, B. Kuhlman 1-3 1-1 3, Moening 0-2 2-4 2, Schomaeker 0-6 2-2 2, Everett 1-1 0-0 2, Peck 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 18-42 13-19—54.
Coldwater   12 9 20 17 — 58
Ottawa-Glandorf   19 13 12 10 — 54
3-Point GOALS: Coldwater 6-12 (Siefring 2-5, Thomas 2-4, Rammel 1-1, Wenning 1-1, Harlamert 0-1); Ottawa-Glandorf 5-16 (Johnson 2-4, T. Kuhlman 1-4, Brickner 1-1, Laubenthal 1-1, B. Kuhlman 0-1, Schomaeker 0-5).
rebounds: Ottawa-Glandorf 24 (Kaufman 7, B. Kuhlman & Schomaeker 5); Coldwater 23 (Wenning 6).
turnovers: Ottawa-Glandorf 16, Coldwater 15.
STEALS: Coldwater 9 (Siefring 3, Thomas 2); Ottawa-Glandorf 8 (B. Kuhlman 3, Brickner 2).
ASSISTS: Coldwater 12 (Rammel & Thomas 4); Ottawa-Glandorf 4 (Brickner 4).
Hanneman: 419-427-8408,
davehanneman@thecourier.com

 

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