McDonald, Sebring survive threats

The Blue Devils defeated Mineral Ridge while the Trojans beat Lordstown.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

HUBBARD — Top-seeded McDonald survived a scare, but fourth-seeded Sebring was unable to overcome a sluggish first half Wednesday in second-round games of the Division IV girls basketball sectional tournament at Hubbard High.

McDonald (21-1) never led by more than nine points and held just a three-point lead with less than two minutes to play in its 38-31 triumph over neighboring rival Mineral Ridge (2-19).

Un-seeded Lordstown (14-8) opened a 20-10 halftime lead against Sebring (12-9), then withstood a Sebring rally by outscoring the Trojans 12-3 in the final two minutes of a 52-42 win.

McDonald and Lordstown will meet Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. in a district semifinal.

Ridge, which lost 61-49 and 56-37 decisions to McDonald during the regular season, gave the Blue Devils all they could handle. McDonald coach Rob Hilbun wasn’t surprised.

“McDonald-Mineral Ridge, there’s nothing like it. It doesn’t matter what sport, it’s going to be a tough game, and Ridge proved tonight they have a lot of heart,” he said. “I was really worried about this game the whole week, ever since the brackets came out. They have been playing very good basketball and we were lucky to pull it out, the ball bounced our way in the end tonight.”

“I’ve never been more proud of any team that I’ve ever coached,” veteran Mineral Ridge coach Jerry Postlethwait said. “We just got a tremendous effort from everybody who played.

“We controlled the tempo a little better this time, had better shot selection, and we just grew up as the season went on. All three of our seniors (Heather Reinhart, Brooke Shaffer, Nicole Honsaker) gave us everything they could tonight. They’re so tired they can hardly move, and that’s all you can ask of them.”

The Rams led 10-8 after one quarter and held a 20-16 lead with 2:24 remaining in the second quarter. McDonald scored the last five points of the quarter to lead 21-20 at halftime, then tallied eight more consecutive points in the first four minutes of period three for a 29-20 advantage.

The Rams weren’t finished, though, and closed to 30-26 at the end of the quarter. Reinhart’s bucket 32 seconds into the final period made it 30-28. After a four-minute dry spell by both teams, junior guard Callie Garland hit a big shot for the Devils, then dished off to Lindsay Repp for another score and a 34-28 lead. Reinhart nailed a 3-pointer with 1:37 left in the game to cut the margin to 34-31, but that was the Rams’ last gasp. Emily Dolsak made four free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Reinhart led all scorers with 22 points. Savanna Flesch had four assists for the Rams.

McDonald got 11 points and 11 rebounds from Dolsak. Repp added 11 rebounds and Joh’Vonnie Mosley had eight points and eight rebounds.

Sebring had posted a 38-32 victory over Lordstown in December, but the Trojans could get nothing going offensively in the first half. A more aggressive approach in their zone defense after halftime enabled the Trojans to put up a 19-11 third quarter, cutting the Red Devils’ lead to 31-29.

“We gave up a first half,” Sebring coach Ty Schaffer said. “At halftime we had 15 turnovers against a 2-3 zone that wasn’t aggressive. We just came out very sluggish. I thought the girls played a real nice third quarter to get us back in.

“They [Lordstown] did a nice job with an offensive adjustment in the fourth quarter. They used a backdoor cut after the ball went in to the high post and we weren’t stopping that drive.”

The game was tied on four different occasions in the first four minutes of the final quarter, the last time at 37-37. Lindsey Harrison, who led Lordstown with 15 points, nailed one of her trio of 3-pointers for a 40-37 lead at the 4:02 mark. With the score 40-39, Lordstown stole the ball on two straight Sebring possessions with both steals leading to points at the other end for a 44-39 lead.

“We stress to the kids taking advantage of opportunities, and how important that is,” Lordstown coach Pat Keney said. “They got it done, you can’t ask for more. These kids have been working awfully hard, we’re young, we’ve got just one senior. We started the season slow because we are young and not believing. Now they are believing and we’re getting the job done. It’s a team effort.”

Ahead 44-40, the Red Devils got four straight free throw makes by Karly Gibbs and two more by Harrison to put the game away.

Brianna Blodget added 12 points and 14 rebounds to the Lordstown cause, Kelsey Wickline had 11 points, Heather Wickline contributed nine steals and Gibbs dished out seven assists.

Sebring got 15 points and nine rebounds from Megan Allcorn, 13 points and six steals from Julia Grimsley, eight rebounds from Jill Bragg and four assists from Jacqui Zmuda.