Struthers, Salem cruise to easy wins at Fitch opener

By John Bassetti

AUSTINTOWN — Crestwood High girls basketball coach Darin Cook said that he scouted Struthers and knew what they had.

But that didn’t stop the Red Devils from suffering Monday’s 71-36 beating at the hands of the second-seeded Wildcats (16-5) in the first round of the Div. II girls sectional at Fitch.

“We knew they were a lot more athletic than we were so we tried to come out in zone,” Cook said of his first choice.

“But we didn’t box out very well and that gave them too many second chances down low, while we were one-and-out the whole first half.

“So they killed us on the boards and got more opportunities than we did,” Cook said. “Then they took some shots from the outside [midway through the second quarter], so we came out and played man-[to-man defense] and tried to match up with them and do the best we could do.”

It was for naught, though, as Crestwood (10-11) fell further behind and trailed by 20 at halftime, 35-15.

In Monday’s second game, Salem (16-5) defeated Niles (0-21), 65-23.

Dana Mathews, Struthers’ third-best scorer all-time and quickly approaching the No. 2 position, had a game-high 18 points, while juniors Marissa Hird and Amanda Ditman had 10 and nine points, respectively.

“I was real happy how the girls came and took a business-like approach to everything,” Struthers coach John Grandy said. “We didn’t have to worry about too many things because we got on top of them right away.”

Senior Helen-Marie Hird had three fouls late in the first half, but that didn’t worry Grandy.

“It didn’t affect us because we jumped on them pretty good,” Grandy said. “There were no real adjustments to be made. Had it been a close game, then that would have been something different.”

Grandy reiterated how the girls took a good business approach.

“We practiced and were relaxed and ready to play,” he said of the preparation.

Of Crestwood, Grandy said the Red Devils knew what they were facing.

“We respected them, but they were one of the teams that picked us [in the drawing meeting],” Grandy said. “Maybe they figured they knew something, but we were just the better team today.”

The Wildcats were 14 of 14 at the foul line.

“I hope we can do that in a close game,” Grandy exclaimed, acknowledging the value of such points at tournament time.

“You can’t let a team hang around because it’s one and out.”

Of Struthers’ 39 rebounds, Ashley Baron had nine and Katlyn Opritza six.

Olivia Phillips had 12 of 30 rebounds for Crestwood, whose top scorer was Katie Cook with 12 points.

Cook said that his team tried to capitalize on Helen-Marie Hird’s three fouls.

“We talked about it at halftime, so we tried to go at her a little bit. But she was just too big and physical for us inside and we’re not a real strong team down low — that’s probably our weakest spot. But we weren’t able to get her in any more foul trouble.”

Struthers knows more about its next opponent: Liberty.

The Wildcats already own two wins over the Leopards in All-American Conference White Tier games.

“Liberty knows us and we know them,” Grandy said. “It’ll be a good game because all the other games we played against them were very good [until Struthers pulled away in the end].”

Liberty is coached by a former Struthers coach, John Hritz.

The Struthers-Liberty rubber game will be Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

For Salem, Amy Scullion had 31 points to lead the Quakers, who held a 31-13 halftime lead.

Amber Bellen’s eight points paced Niles while the Red Dragons got seven more points from Mariah Mostoller.

Scullion had 11 goals and 9 of 12 free throws. Salem’s strongest quarters were the first and fourth with 18 and 20 points, respectively.

The Quakers made 15 of 22 free throws, while Niles sank just 2 of 3.

Salem’s next opponent is Ravenna Southeast on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

bassetti@vindy.com