Leetonia holds off Warren JFK; Mathews ousts Lowellville, 53-23

The Rockets played without Ali Grapevine, who was injured.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

HUBBARD — It was deja vu all over again at Hubbard High.

The results from Thursday night’s girls basketball Division IV sectional second-round doubleheader were eerily similar to the results of Wednesday’s two games.

In the opener each night, a seeded team survived, by a 38-31 score, an upset bid by a team with three or fewer wins. And in the nightcap, a team from the Northeastern Athletic Conference knocked off a seeded team from the Inter Tri-County League Tier Two.

On Thursday, second-seeded Leetonia (17-5) saw a 15-point second quarter lead dwindle to two with less than three minutes left in the game before the Bears held off Warren JFK (3-18) by that 38-31 score.

Also, Mathews (12-10) used a stifling man-to-man defense in its 53-23 victory over third-seeded Lowellville (12-10), playing its second tournament game without four-year starter Ali Grapevine.

On Wednesday, top-seeded McDonald survived Mineral Ridge’s upset bid, 38-31, and Lordstown knocked off fourth-seeded Sebring.

The district semifinals are set for next Thursday, with McDonald facing Lordstown at 6 p.m., followed by Leetonia against Mathews. The championship game is scheduled Feb. 23 at 1 p.m.

Mathews raced out to a 12-2 lead after one quarter Thursday and led 19-3 with about three minutes remaining in the first half.

Lowellville scored the final eight points of the half and the first bucket of the third quarter, to cut the lead to 19-13. But the Mustangs reeled off three quick baskets to spark a 17-4 run the remainder of the third period.

Mathews held Lowellville to 17 percent (7-of-42) shooting for the game and held a 28-17 edge in rebounds.

“We understand it’s a different game without them having Ali,” Mathews coach John Cicero said. “That is how we want to play defense, it’s how we’ve been trying to get our girls to play all year.

“My hat’s off to my assistant coach [Craig Cicero] because we didn’t get a chance to practice because of the inclement weather. We had to put together a scouting report and were only able to prepare for about 10 minutes. We were very worried about them, they are a hustling team and they’ve got great tradition.”

The Mustangs were led offensively by Lindsay Buckner with 16 points, six assists and four steals. Allie Stein had nine points and nine rebounds and Rachel Roscoe and Carly Roscoe scored eight points each.

Jamie Hynes scored eight points for Lowellville and Chelsea Marrie grabbed seven rebounds.

“We struggled against man-to-man all year, even with Ali we struggled,” Lowellville coach Tony Matisi said. “But at least she created a lot of stuff for us in the halfcourt against man [defense]. We could isolate her. It was tough tonight just trying to find points.”

Grapevine, who will attend the U.S. Military Academy in the fall, was injured in the Rockets’ final game of the regular season.

Leetonia led JFK 14-5 after the first quarter and held a 22-7 lead with about three minutes left in the first half. Kennedy closed the gap to 24-12 by halftime and to 26-20 after three quarters. The Eagles would not go away and closed to within 31-29 with 2:45 to play.

The score was 34-31 at the 1:13 mark before seniors Sarah Weikart and Deidra Curry sank two free throws each to put the game away.

“We had a great first half and then we came out in the third quarter and we knew they weren’t going to give up,” Leetonia coach Kelly Paxson said. “We knew they were a good team, but we just weren’t focused.

“Offensively we broke down, defensively we broke down. We can’t play a second half of basketball and only score two points in the third quarter. We just broke down, we just weren’t in it the second half.”

Freshman forward Clarissa Perkins had a big game for the Bears with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Weikart had five assists, Erin Lamb had four steals and Lynsie Davis grabbed seven rebounds. Leetonia held a 37-21 edge in rebounding.

JFK started four freshman and one sophomore and had two other freshmen in its rotation. Junior Marissa Nocera came off the bench to score 15 points, and freshman Paige Klaric added nine.