McDonald grabs ITCL crown, 49-33

Emily Dolsak paced the Blue Devils in the win over Leetonia.

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

McDONALD — The night before the biggest game of his season (so far), McDonald High girls basketball coach Rob Hilbun — a Miami Dolphins fan — tried to relax in front of the TV, cheering on Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

In case you’re wondering, he didn’t consider skipping the Big Game to focus on his big game.

“No, I was watching the Super Bowl,” he said. “But I was thinking about [Leetonia].”

The last time the two teams met, on Jan. 7, Leetonia did everything right, shutting down the Blue Devils for a 52-45 win. It was McDonald’s only loss of the season, setting up Monday’s winner-take-all matchup for the Inter Tri-County League Tier Two title.

“We really prepared hard for them,” Hilbun said. “We were ready to play.”

No kidding. Behind the stellar play of senior forward Emily Dolsak, the Blue Devils started hot and never let up, beating the Bears 49-33 in front of a packed house at McDonald High School to clinch their second league crown in three years.

“We executed really well,” said Hilbun. “Today we were just running and playing our game. We got easy layups and moved the ball well.

“It was the sharpest we’ve played offensively.”

Dolsak finished with game-highs in points (19), rebounds (nine) and assists (seven) for McDonald (18-1, 13-1), which cruised to a 12-2 lead after one quarter. The Blue Devils put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring the Bears 15-8 to take a 36-19 lead.

McDonald outrebounded Leetonia 26-16 and forced 14 turnovers.

“We did a nice job limiting them to one shot,” said Hilbun, whose team won the Inter County League title two years ago before finishing second in ITCL Tier Two to Lowellville last season. “I’m really proud of the girls.”

Joh’Vonnie Mosley added 14 points and Ari-Anna Williams had nine for the Blue Devils, who are the No. 1 seed in the Division IV district at Liberty High.

“We really want to win districts,” Hilbun said. “This is nice and it was one of our goals, but our focus is on districts.”

Sarah Weikart scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds to lead Leetonia (15-4, 12-2), which also lost to Lowellville, Crestview and Lisbon.

The Bears made just one of 14 3-pointers and finished 13 of 51 from the field overall.