Lisbon eliminates Irish; Blue Devils riding high

Ursuline's Danielle Crafter had a game-high 21 points and 22 rebounds in the 47-44 loss.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HANOVERTON -- The Lisbon Blue Devils became the first team since 2000 to defeat the Ursuline Irish in the Division III district tournament at United High School.
The Blue Devils overcame a late four-point deficit by scoring seven straight points to defeat the Irish 47-44, Thursday.
Ursuline's Danielle Crafter, who tallied 21 points and grabbed 22 rebounds missed a shot with 6.5 seconds remaining that would have given the Irish a 46-45 lead and Erica Sims grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
Sims missed the free throw but Megan Reynolds snuck in for the rebound and put in the final points with 2.5 seconds left in the game.
An upset?
Not if you go strictly by records.
Two different records
Lisbon came in as one of the top seeds in the tournament with a 16-4 mark and Ursuline had won only eight of 20 games this season after earning a trip to Columbus and the state finals last year.
"We talked about that a lot believe it or not," said Lisbon coach Jamie Entrikin.
"I don't care what kind of Ursuline team it is. Any kind of win over a great program like that is great for our program.
"We have a lot of respect for what they've done but if ever there was a time that somebody could get them it was this year."
The Irish have struggled during this rebuilding season and it looked like Ursuline might quietly exit the tournament after falling behind 18-8 early in the second quarter.
Crafter however relied on her strength, court savvy and state-caliber playoff experience to will her team back in the game.
"Danielle had an incredible game," said Ursuline coach Sean Durkin. "That's what she is capable of doing. She's capable of dominating games on the glass.
"It was almost enough for us but at the end they just had too many weapons."
Guards lead Blue Devils
The Blue Devils were led by their talented guard tandem of Erica Sims (16 points), Caitlin Glenn (12 points) and Emily Smith (10 points).
The trio helped get the Devils out to an early lead while the young Irish players tried to get their games untracked.
Trailing by 10 points, the Irish went on a 12-3 run to end the second period and trailed by just 21-10 at the break.
The game went back and fourth in the second half and the Irish behind the strong play of Crafter and center Megan Saccomen began to look like they might maintain their dominance in the Division III tournament.
The Irish are 15-2 overall at United and hadn't lost since they fell to Mooney 60-57 in 2000.
Lisbon bounces back
Ursuline pulled out to four-point leads twice in the fourth quarter but Lisbon managed to find a way to get back in the contest.
"Lisbon is a very good ball team but we thought we had a chance to win, which we did," Durkin said. "There were a lot of ebb-and-flow in this game and we had a couple of opportunities to extend the lead in those situations and didn't."
Entrikin said he knew his team wouldn't quit at that point.
"I told our kids if you are going to beat a team like [Ursuline] you have to play harder than them and be tougher than them," Entrikin said. "It doesn't matter what the score is.
"Our kids picked it up and took some chances and things just turned in our favor."