Defense dominates sectionals

Struthers pulled away from Liberty while West Branch slipped past Mooney.

By Joe Scalzo

Vindicator Sports Staff

West Branch 43 - Mooney 39 Final

Gallery

West Branch Girls defeat Cardinal Mooney Girls in basketball at Fitch High School on Wednesday evening 43 - 39.

AUSTINTOWN — Struthers senior Helen-Marie Hird already has two names but if you’re stuck playing the Wildcats, there’s a lot more you can call her.

Annoying, for one.

“Oh yeah, she can pester you,” said Struthers coach John Grandy, grinning. “She’s always been that way. Sometimes we’ve got to calm her down because she gets over-aggressive.

“But she’s a good one. She gives you 100 percent all the time. We like to model the program like that. Our girls play hard — not always smart — but they play hard.”

That effort, led by Hird’s manic defensive play, was on full display Wednesday night as Struthers advanced to the district semifinals for the fifth straight year, beating Liberty 64-45 in a Division II sectional final at Fitch High School.

“We’ve been working hard for this,” said senior Dana Mathews, who had 11 points, eight assists and six steals for the Wildcats. “People underestimate us, but ever since we were younger, this group of five seniors made it our goal to win a district title.”

Struthers (17-5), the tournament’s second seed, has two more steps to reach that goal.

The first one is next Thursday, when the Wildcats will meet fourth-seeded West Branch (13-8) at 6 p.m. in a district semifinal.

The Warriors beat Mooney 43-39 in Thursday’s opener.

“We’ve got a good game ahead of us,” said Grandy, whose team would likely meet top-seeded Salem in the district final. “West Branch can do some good things.”

Hird scored 20 points with 10 rebounds — both team-highs — as Struthers used a 13-2 run midway through the third quarter to take a 46-31 lead and pretty much end the suspense.

Guard Ashley Baron, one of four senior starters, added 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“This group of five seniors has playing with each other fifth grade,” said Mathews. “I know where everyone’s going to go, what everyone does.

“I can tell every move Helen Hird’s going to make and how she’s going to react to what she did.”

Sophomore Vakeyla Merriweather scored 17 points and junior Candace Coward added eight points, 13 rebounds and five assists for the Leopards (7-13), who are coached by former longtime Struthers mentor John Hritz.

Hritz, who has more than 400 career victories, coached the Wildcats to their last district title in the mid-1990s.

“He kind of knows what he’s doing,” quipped Grandy. “He surely wasn’t out-coached tonight.”

In the opener, West Branch outscored Mooney 8-4 in the final minutes to avenge a 33-31 defeat from last week.

Senior guard Katie Sellaroli hit a huge 3-pointer with two minutes left to break a 35-35 tie and the Warriors never again trailed.

Junior Andrea Wingett added a big bucket, senior Michele Sosnick hit two free throws with 16 seconds left and Sellaroli added one with eight seconds left to complete the Warriors’ scoring.

Mooney, meanwhile, missed its last three shots from the field.

“We made some big shots down the stretch, made our free throws down the stretch and, ultimately, when we needed to get a stop, we got it,” said West Branch coach Walt DeShields. “We’ve relied on our defense all year long.”

Sophomore Taylor Woytek had eight points and sophomore Katrina Larson had four points, six rebounds and three steals for the Cardinals (9-12), who fell behind 17-8 after one quarter only to take a 20-19 halftime lead.

“He made adjustments, we made adjustments and his adjustments were more successful than ours,” said Mooney coach Jack Bermann. “They did the things they had to do to win the game.”

Junior guard Tia King scored 11 points, including three of West Branch’s seven 3-pointers, to lead the Warriors.

Sosnick had eight points, 11 rebounds and four steals in a game defined by its sloppiness.

The teams combined for 56 turnovers, including 32 in the first half alone.

“In tournaments, basically, you survive and move on,” said DeShields. “You’ve got to treat this like when you were a kid growing up in the park and you wanted to keep that blacktop court. The team that keeps it, wins. The other ones go home.

“We’re playing another week. We survived.”

scalzo@vindy.com