McDonald defeats Jackson-Milton
The Blue Devils rallied to a 39-34 win over their biggest rivals.
By DOUG CHAPIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HUBBARD -- Freshman Joh'Vonnie Mosley scored the last seven points of the game as McDonald High rallied for a 39-34 victory over Jackson-Milton Saturday night in a Division IV sectional final at Hubbard High School.
The Blue Devils (18-3) defeated Jackson-Milton twice during the regular season by scores of 49-43 and 50-42, but trailed for most of the game Saturday.
Senior post player Liz Hughes finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds scored with 5:50 remaining in the game to give the Bluejays a 34-30 lead.
Jackson-Milton was held scoreless the rest of the way.
Dolsak to Mosley
McDonald's Emily Dolsak had 11 points, 17 rebounds and six assists, scored at the 2:57 mark to cut the deficit to 34-32. The Mosley, who's numbers 18 points and 14 rebounds, took over.
The 5-9 post player scored after making a steal on an inbound play, tying the game at 34 with 1:19 remaining. She rebounded a missed free throw and was fouled, making the second of two shots to put the Devils ahead 35-34 with 1:04 left on the clock.
Dolsak made a steal on Jackson-Milton's next possession and found Mosley on the right base line where the freshman calmly sank a 10 footer with 33 seconds left to make it 37-34.
With 12 seconds remaining Mosley sank both ends of a one-and-one to set the final score.
"Joh'Vonnie has gotten better and better every game," McDonald Coach Rob Hilbun said. "She seems to wear on people and at the end of games seems to get those big rebounds."
Too many turnovers
The game was the second in the tournament in which McDonald, the defending district champs, played a team that it had beaten twice in the regular season.
"Jackson-Milton is one of our big rivals and they really wanted to beat us so we had to match their intensity," Hilbun said. "We were losing at halftime both times we played them so the girls knew we could come back."
Jackson-Milton coach Melanie Hulett said, "The Bluejays knew they could compete with McDonald. All three games were close and we were ahead at some point close to the end in all three," she said. "We just haven't been able to finish it off. We were hoping to do that in the tournament."
"We just had to many turnovers and we couldn't get our shots to fall when we needed them."
Hughes got help from Carrie Fiol with five points and five assists, Alyssa Chine with seven points and Alex Wiseman with six rebounds.
McDonald led 10-3 early and 10-9 at the end of the first quarter. The Jays opened a 19-13 in the second quarter and led 19-15 at half. McDonald scored the first six points of the second half to lead 21-19, but Jackson-Milton regained the lead, 30-28, after three quarters.
Mathews 54, Youngs. Christian 51
HUBBARD -- Sarah King scored 17 points to lead Mathews in the second game.
Jill Armentrout added 13 points for the Mustangs, who will play McDonald in a district semifinal Thursday at 7:45 p.m.
Kara Cooper led Youngstown Christian with 17 points, while Dana Duman added 13 and Vickie Bankhead 12.