Topped by the Mount

COLUMBUS -- The Mount Notre Dame girls basketball team came in with all the credentials. Boardman left with a ton of respect.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, too many turnovers and too few rebounds prevented them from ascending the mount.
Mount Notre Dame, the defending state champion, used an 11-0 run midway through the first half to take a lead it would not relinquish, defeating the Spartans 49-37 in a Division I state semifinal Friday at St. John Arena.
The Cougars (25-2), ranked No. 13 in the country by USA Today, will play Dayton Chaminade-Julienne tonight in the state final.
Michelle Jones, a 6-foot-2 senior who was named co-player of the year in the state earlier this week, had 14 points and 19 rebounds to lead Mount Notre Dame.
Guards Lee Stephens and TaHara Williams added 14 and 10 points, respectively, and forward Cassie Brannen had 11 points and eight blocked shots.
"With a great team like that, you have to take something away, and unfortunately we couldn't take it all away," Boardman coach Ron Moschella said.
"I thought their guard play was exceptional. [Williams] is a good decision maker, [Stephens] is a great shooter. They have great balance."
Scoring droughts
Two shooting droughts, one in each half, also hurt the Spartans.
Brittany Sirak scored a layup with 2 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the first quarter to give Boardman a 13-11 lead. The Spartans didn't get their next basket until 2:44 remained in the first half, a span of almost eight minutes.
By then, Mount Notre Dame had a 10-point lead, and Jessica Moore's layup made it 24-16.
"In the first quarter, I thought we were really playing them tough until about two minutes to go, and I think our kids were a little bit on our heels in the second quarter," Moschella said. "At halftime I challenged them to play hard like we've always done."
The margin was still 12 (34-21) in the third quarter before Boardman went on an 8-0 run. April Melquist had a layup and a basket, Emily Hays and Moore made a pair of free throws and Colleen Mallis hit a 3-pointer, her third of the game.
Mallis' shot occurred with 2:25 remaining in the period to make it 36-27.
The Cougars then scored 12 of the game's next 14 points, leading 46-29 before Melquist's 3-pointer with 4:09 to go in the game. That basket-less stretch lasted 6:16.
"They just keep coming at you," Moschella said. "They changed their defenses and they packed it in on us, then they went man. It's just recognition; our kids had to make certain adjustments. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't.
Moore led the Spartans (22-4) with 10 points and eight rebounds. Mallis added nine points, all on 3-pointers, and Melquist finished with eight.
Getting physical
"That was more physical than any game I've been in," Moore said. "Every boxout was a like a war."
Moschella joked about Jones' dominance.
"She got a rebound in front of me one time and it scared the heck out of me," he quipped. "It was a big time rebound.
"She's real solid, she rebounds, she comes down strong but I thought we did a pretty good job against her," he added.
Mount Notre Dame coach Dr. Scott Rogers was impressed with the Spartans.
"The intensity level was that of a state semifinal game," Scott said. "They were throwing different stuff at us defensively and our girls responded well, especially in the second half.
"It came down to us making some shots and getting some second-chance attempts," Scott said. "Boardman did a great job in the first half of limiting our inside touches in the first half. Once we went to a two-man game then things started to go in synch for us."
Boardman finished just 12-of-43 from the floor (27.9 percent) and was outrebounded, 37-30. The Spartans also had 17 turnovers to Mount Notre Dame's 13.
"We usually don't make those kinds of turnovers but Notre Dame had something to do with that," Moschella said. "They have great athletes."
Key stretch
Moschella said the stretch at the end of the third quarter, when Boardman had six consecutive possessions without a shot attempt, was key.
"We got it down to seven and a call here or there and that's the game," he said. "It was one of those kinds of calls that could have gone either way. I'm not blaming anybody but it could have changed the momentum of the game."
Mount Notre Dame was 16-of-49 (32.7 percent) from the floor.
"They're just a real, good, solid team at every position and they're real smart," said Moschella of the Cougars.
"Our kids worked really hard in the second half we started to go inside a little bit more and gave them some trouble," he added.
"Our kids never gave up; I'm really proud of that fact," Moschella said. "That's the whole thing, they played as hard as they could."