Irish run out of magic

Ursuline couldn't repeat last year's upset as Regina won, 67-48.
CUYAHOGA FALLS -- Ursuline High's girls basketball team couldn't repeat its magic from last season when the Fighting Irish defeated South Euclid Regina in the Division III regional at Cuyahoga Falls and went on to win the state title.
Wednesday night, the Royals made sure from the start that Ursuline wouldn't get a return trip to Columbus, racing out to 14-0 lead and going on to defeat the Irish, 67-48, in a semifinal.
Regina (22-3) will play Cleveland Central Catholic (23-1) Saturday at 1 p.m. in the regional championship game.
"The better team won," said Ursuline coach Sean Durkin. "We were hoping to get this game into the second half and give it a run, but it's tough to try and scratch and claw from behind against a team of that caliber."
Familiar story
The Irish (19-4) and Royals are familiar opponents in regional play. Ursuline has played Regina five straight seasons and six of the last seven with the winner advancing to the championship game or to the state's final four.
Wednesday's game was never in doubt as Regina jumped out to the early lead.
"[Regina] was quicker and stronger than us," Durkin said. "They hurt us in more ways than we anticipated and especially on the boards."
Regina not only outrebounded the Irish, 43-34, but got many points following offensive rebounds.
The guard tandem of junior Carly Jacobs, freshman Shay Selby and senior Monique Godfrey combined to score 51 of the Royals' 67 points. Jacobs led with 22 points while Selby showed that she will be a standout the next three years, scoring 20 points and running the offense.
"Our guard play was outstanding," said Regina coach Pat Diulus. "We were able to get out and run on them and that was the difference.
"I didn't think we would win by this much," Diulus said. "But you never have a big enough lead when they have a player like Tyra Grant on the floor.
"She showed why she's a great player tonight."
Grant led the Irish with 21 points and 11 rebounds while battling foul trouble. The junior missed the last five minutes of the second quarter when she picked up her third foul and was assessed her fourth foul early in the third quarter.
Durkin elected to keep Grant in the game despite the fouls in order to try to get Ursuline back in the contest.
Battling back
After the 14-0 start, Ursuline battled back and played the Royals evenly the rest of the game although they never threatened.
Ursuline got to within nine points, 21-12, on Vannessa Dickson's basket in the second quarter and to within 10 points in the third quarter, 34-24 on a Cierra Bennett bucket.
"We really wanted to win this game," Grant said. "Once we got down in that hole it was tough to dig our way out.
"We fought hard all the way to the end, but I wish we would have had that same intensity at the start of the game."
Dickson scored nine points for Ursuline while Bennett added seven. Sophomore Danielle Crafter came off the bench to play her best game of the year as she scored eight points and had 10 rebounds.
"We were an inexperienced team coming into the year," Durkin said. "We experienced some growing pains but the last half of the year we went from a mediocre team to a really good team."
With only one senior on the Irish squad, another matchup with Regina is likely again in next year's regional tournament.
"It's quite a rivalry," Diulus said. "Ursuline has a great program and Sean [Durkin] does a great job. It's a pleasure to play against them."