Blue Devils rebound, 72-27

McDonald will play ICL rival Mineral Ridge in the next game.
By DOUG CHAPIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HUBBARD -- A loss earlier in the week at Lowellville spoiled McDonald High's girls basketball team's quest for a perfect regular season, so the Blue Devils were happy to get back on the court.
Their performance Saturday in a 72-27 victory over Leetonia (4-17) in the Division IV district tournament certainly showed the Devils are back on track.
"It was very important for us to play again as soon as possible," coach Rob Hilbun said. "We are not used to losing and it was nice to get back on the court."
Senior guard Ashleigh Tondo led McDonald (20-1) with 21 points, 12 rebounds, nine steals and nine assists. Amy Dolsak added 15 points and Emily Dolsak and Courtney Vitullo each tallied 10. Six of Tondo's 10 field goals were a direct result of her making a steal at the other end.
McDonald sparkplug
"Ashleigh has been doing that all year for us," Hilbun said. "She's our point guard and team leader and she leads us in points and rebounds most of the time. She really has improved her rebounding this year, and she can shoot the 3-pointer, even though she didn't take many today."
Tondo echoed her coach's comments about coming back from the loss.
& quot;It was really important for us to come out and show everyone that even with the loss we could get things done," she said. "We were really disappointed we didn't finish 20-0, the tournament is a new start and everyone is 0-0."
Leetonia, which was led by Katie Grunick's 11 points, trailed 10-8 midway through the first quarter. A 12-0 McDonald run closed out the first quarter, then the Bears managed just three field goal attempts in the second stanza, missing all three. The Blue Devils' 21-5 edge in the quarter left the halftime score at 41-13.
McDonald has good size and athleticism, shoots well, takes care of the ball and plays an aggressive defense, often taking chances in the passing lanes.
"We like to run, we always want a fast break game, and we'll press and get after it if an opponent tries to take that away," Hilbun said. "We think we play very well in transition."
Rams are next
The Blue Devils certainly demonstrated that on Saturday. Their next chance to run the floor comes Thursday against Mineral Ridge, which had a first-round bye.
Should the Devils win that one, the potential exists for a meeting with Lowellville in the semifinals. Besides the win over McDonald in the season finale, the two-time defending district champion Rockets also defeated the Blue Devils in the district championship game last year.
Like most coaches, Hilbun isn't looking that far ahead.
"At tournament time everybody is 0-0 and what a team did in the regular season doesn't mean much," he said. "We're certainly proud of what we accomplished, but you have one bad game in the tournament and you're done. We play Mineral Ridge next and we will focus on getting ready for them."
Tondo agreed.
"We can't look past Mineral Ridge, they started getting some momentum late in the season," she said. "If we do meet Lowellville in the semifinals, it will be a good matchup."