Ursuline's rally nets state berth

The Irish won their second trip to the state tournament in three seasons.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CUYAHOGA FALLS -- The best road trip of the season awaits the Ursuline High girls basketball team, thanks to Saturday's furious fourth-quarter rally that propelled the Irish to a 56-48 victory over Garfield Heights Trinity in the Division III regional final.
"It never gets old," senior Vannessa Dickson said after the Irish (21-4) clinched their second trip to the state tournament in Columbus in three seasons. "It's a huge accomplishment. Our team has been through so much with injuries -- it's just been a wild ride."
Thursday at 6 p.m., Ursuline will play Sugarcreek Garaway in the semifinals at the Schottenstein Center, the site of their state championship victory two years ago.
"They're both different but equally satisfying," Ursuline coach Sean Durkin said of the regional crowns. "They're a little different in that the last time we shocked the world."
Two years ago, Ursuline upset South Euclid Regina in the regional final to earn its first state berth. In Wednesday's semifinal, Trinity (19-6) upset Regina.
"This time, it was just two really good teams going after each other," Durkin said of the regional final. "I have so much respect for [Rachele] Fitz -- she did such a great job."
Fitz, a 6-foot-1 senior, finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Trojans.
Grant pours in 34
Ursuline senior Tyra Grant topped that by scoring 34 points. She also had seven of the Irish's 23 rebounds and was a force when Durkin unleashed Ursuline's pressure defense in the fourth quarter.
"She made some huge defensive plays -- you start to run out of adjectives to describe her," Durkin said of his Penn State-bound senior. "She just completely took the game over on offense which she's certainly capable of doing.
"She did so other things -- she [rebounded] and made some big blocks. She's certainly the story of the game."
Grant had some help.
Trailing 40-37 midway the fourth quarter, Ursuline got a 3-pointer from Dickson, then senior Mariah Snyder stole the ball and fed Grant for a layup. A free throw gave the Irish a 43-40 lead.
"When we played here Wednesday, my three was off -- I couldn't make a three for anything," said Dickson, who finished with 17 points. "So [Friday], that's all I worked on during practice. I stayed out there and shot three after three. I knew that if I was going to be open in this game that I'd have to take it."
Irish make foul shots
Even more crucial for the Irish was their ability to make foul shots. In the final quarter, Ursuline made 15 free throws, with Grant making nine and Dickson five.
"When it got into crunch time, our two big kids made several key free throws and it staved them off," Durkin said.
Durkin had praise for Ursuline's role players.
"We thought Fitz was going to score no matter what we did," Durkin said. "We really had no answer for her so we thought that we would try to take [Dayna] Smith away."
Smith, who picked up her third personal foul late in the third quarter, finished with seven points.
"Tiffani Miller is our best defender and I thought she did a real nice job of taking [Smith] out of their offense," Durkin said.
Durkin's strategy
Trinity's speed was the reason Durkin held back on his pressure defense.
"This team was pretty quick," Durkin said. "We were afraid that this team could hurt us if we put too much pressure on them because they have a couple of kids who are [fast as] lightning. We were a little bit afraid of their athleticism."
Dickson, a role player on the Ursuline team two years ago that featured Grant and Courtney Davidson, said her unsung teammates came through against the Trojans.
"Tyra can score a lot but we have other players who can play defense," Dickson said. "When you're a role player, you've got to know when it's your time to step up. That's a big thing we've been concentrating on -- we have a lot of players who do that for us."
williams@vindy.com