Rockets, Eagles advance in Div. IV

By John Bassetti

HUBBARD — Top-seed Lowellville (19-3) will meet Warren JFK (11-9) in a district semifinal on March 4 at 7:30 p.m., following the McDonald-Crestview game in Div. IV at Hubbard’s gym.

Lowellville coach Tony Matisi believes that the game’s guard matchup will be a factor.

“It might come down to who shoots the best,” the Lowellville coach said after his team laced Maplewood, 57-44, on Saturday. Earlier JFK drilled Columbiana, 55-29.

For JFK, Paige Klaric had 25 points, including 11 of 13 free throws.

But coach John Baytos remembers looking up at the scoreboard when it read: Columbiana 11, JFK 10.

“I’m sure Jeff [Hammond] was happy at that point,” Baytos said of Columbiana’s coach. “From that point on, because of our speed on defense, we started anticipating better and we started trapping better and we were able to force some turnovers. It gave us some opportunities to get some easy baskets.”

It overcame Columbiana’s size with Irene Coy and Katie Witmer.

The pair combined for only five points, but Coy, a senior, had nine rebounds and three blocked shots to finish with a school single-season record 93 blocks.

Witmer had six rebounds and four steals.

“We were worried about them because we had seen them play a couple times and knew we had to keep them from getting to the basket and getting easy looks — those 4-, 6- and 8-footers,” Baytos said.

His players were instructed to force Coy and Witmer to the outside to shoot.

“We felt that anything beyond 8 feet wouldn’t be as accurate. It was a measure of our good defense when some of their shots went around the rim,” said Baytos.

Holding the Clippers (8-14) to 12 points at halftime and 16 after three quarters was a testament to JFK’s tenacity.

Baytos believes his Eagles play one of the toughest Div. IV schedules in the state.

“Our kids accept challenges and play their hearts out. They’re blessed with speed, so that’s to our advantage when we can run. Anytime you can keep a team to 12 points at the half, you’ve done a good job, defensively,” he said.

Of Klaric’s 25 points, Baytos said: “What a fantastic game she had.”

Hammond said that the loss wasn’t an indication of what Columbiana represents.

“It was one of those days and they won,” said the coach whose team was on the low end of the 21-to-10 free-throw attempt numbers.

“Our kids knew that the refs let you play and that you’d be in for a physical game. Before halftime we were down 16-12, then 20-12. We didn’t like how they extended it on us. In the first half, we tried to shoot too quickly, so we talked about working the ball more. We came out in the third quarter and tried to close the gap. At first, we settled for outside shots, then we tried to get close, but it didn’t work out for us.”

Hayley Goist’s 11 points paced the Clippers.

Lowellville went from playing — and beating — a team three times to playing a team it may have never played before.

Lowellville beat Jackson-Milton on Monday before playing Maplewood (7-15) for the first time in Matisi’s 12 seasons.

Taylor Hvisdak’s 13 points paced Lowellville.

With 23 points, Melissa Sloan had over half of Maplewood’s points.

Matisi alternated three defenders (Hvisdak, Emily Carlson and Maddie Opritza) on Sloan with hopes of wearing her down.

It must have worked because the senior’s output slipped from 20 points in the first three quarters to 3.

When the fourth quarter rolled around Sloan was still making defensive plays, but her shooting strength was weak.

“If you can wear down a team’s point guard, that’s a good game plan,” said Maplewood coach Mark Yoder. “It looks like they have five guards who aren’t afraid to put the ball on the floor or aren’t afraid to shoot beyond the arc. Plus, they all play good defense.”

Taylor Snyder added 13 points for Maplewood.

While all was peachy, Matisi still said his girls have got to work on getting better shots.

“Sometimes, we take the first available shot — and we can do that anytime — but, if we work the ball we can possibly get a better shot.”