United rallies to sink Ursuline

By Tom Williams

The Eagles overcame a 14-point deficit to earn a Division III regional appearance.

MINERAL RIDGE — At halftime, after his United High girls basketball team was thoroughly outplayed to trail speedier Ursuline 27-15, Coach Roger Zeigler resorted to shock therapy.

“He said, ‘you guys look scared out of your minds,’ ” senior guard Maggie Miller said of Zeigler’s halftime message.

“He told us to go out there, relax, play the game and things will happen,” Miller said.

What happened was that the Eagles (22-1) limited the Irish (15-8) to two baskets in the second half in rallying for a 45-40 victory Saturday in the Division III district final at Mineral Ridge High.

“It’s surreal, it’s unreal,” Miller said after the Eagles snapped the Irish’s 10-game winning streak. “I can’t explain it.”

Asked how the Eagles wiped out a one-time 14-point deficit against the Steel Valley Conference champions, Zeigler admitted he’s not exactly sure.

“At halftime, we were down by 12 and they were taking it to us,” said Zeigler who advised his players to “get back to playing your game.”

What Zeigler stressed was attacking the basket with confidence.

“Don’t be scared — go have some confidence in yourselves,” Zeigler said to his Inter Tri-County League Tier One champions.

Leading the Eagles was senior guard Maggie Sell who scored nine of her 13 points in the second half.

“When we were down by 10, we felt it wasn’t over because we had come back several times during the season,” said Sell, who agreed that this finish against a strong opponent was “more dramatic. It was pretty exciting for us to fight back. That’s the best team we played all year.”

Wednesday at 8 p.m., the Eagles will play Smithville (24-0) in the regional semifinals at Cuyahoga Falls High School.

The Eagles’ self-assurance resurfaced in the third quarter when they outscored the Irish 13-3 to climb back into contention.

“We were able to get some shots that we wanted,” Zeigler said.

Another adjustment was switching to a zone defense.

“We had to try and slow them down,” Zeigler said.

In the second half, the Irish took just nine shots. One reason was because the Eagles were taking plenty of fouls, sending Ursuline to the line 18 times. The Irish made nine of them.

“All year, we go after you so we are going to foul,” Zeigler said of the Eagles’ aggressive style. “So once they get two or three, they know to back off a little bit. Most of the time we wear people down. But they were wearing us down.”

With freshman guard Aurielle Irizarry scoring four baskets, the Irish surged to an 18-10 lead after one quarter. A 3-pointer by Kaneesha Tensley helped the Irish go up by 12 at the break.

Momentum shifted to the Eagles early in the third quarter when Irizarry was called for charging and sat with foul trouble. At the time, she had 13 points.

Meanwhile, the Eagles received strong support from their bench during the third-quarter surge. Junior Chelsea Laughlin made five of her team-high eight rebounds while freshman Ruth Prosko contributed two steals and two rebounds. Sophomore Crystal Richards sank a 3-pointer to reduce Ursuline’s lead to 33-31.

Baskets by Hillary Hoppel and Lauren Rockhold tied the game 1t 40-40 with 1;18 to go. Down the stretch, Sell made three free throws and Miller two as United pulled away.

Miller, Laughlin and Hoppel each scored six points.

For the Irish, Irizarry led with 14 points while Shamia Harrison scored eight. Dominique Jenkins came off the bench to pull down eight rebounds, block a shot and make four steals.

williams@vindy.com