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Struthers, Salem advance in Div. II
By Tom Williams
AUSTINTOWN
Special to The Vindicator/Nick Mays
Photo
POLAND - SALEM - (50) Leanna Yeager of Poland drives to the hoop as (35) Amy Scullion plays defense during their game Thursday night in Austintown.
For Struthers High senior Dana Mathews, Thursday’s 46-43 victory over West Branch was climbing a hurdle that has frustrated the Wildcats for three seasons.
For Salem senior Amy Scullion, she’s hoping a similar type of frustration is eliminated on Saturday when her Quakers take on Mathews’ Wildcats in the Division II district final on at Austintown Fitch High.
“It’s so important — we’ve been talking about cutting nets since day one,” said Scullion after the Quakers defeated Poland 44-30 in Thursday’s other semifinal. “This is definitely our goal for the season.”
A district championship would be something new for Scullion as the Quakers (18-5) have finished district runners-up four of the past five seasons.
Mathews is excited for the chance to compete for the crown after being eliminated in the district semifinals in her first three varsity seasons.
“The league means nothing [now] — it’s a whole new tournament, a whole new game,” said Mathews after scoring 20 points against the Warriors (13-9). “[The district final] is what we wanted.
“This is what we’ve been going after since day one so this was the biggest game of the season,” Mathews said. “Now, all we want is Saturday.
“We finally did it, but we’re not satisfied with just getting there.”
For the Wildcats (18-5), their dream nearly turned into an unforgettable nightmare as the Warriors (13-9) erased a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
A minute into the final quarter, Mathews hit a 3-pointer for 40-25 lead. The Warriors responded with an incredible surge. Senior Katie Sellaroli’s second of two-consecutive 3-pointers tied the game with 3:21 remaining.
The Wildcats responded with their own surge, a 6-0 run. After Katelyn Ardale scored a basket, Kaitlyn Opritza scored one and Mathews sank two free throws for a 46-40 lead.”
I think we got a little carried away at the end,” Struthers coach John Grandy said. “Our job was to get the ball to Dana at the end and she does a very good job of making me look good sometimes at what she’s doing out there.
“All of them were playing hard — I don’t want to lose sight of what went on up until that because we were playing very good defense.”
Mathews led the Wildcats with 20 points while Ardale finished with 10.
“We just stuck together and told ourselves that this is what we’ve worked for, and we weren’t going to just throw it away,” Mathews said. “We pulled together.
For the Warriors, Sellaroli led with 15 points while Michele Sosnick scored 12.
After falling behind 6-0 early in the game to the Bulldogs (10-12), the Quakers took charge, climbing to a 37-18 lead after three quarters.
“They did everything they could to take Amy out of the game,” Salem coach Jeff Andres said of the Bulldogs’ strategy. (Scullion finished with six points.) “They did a great job of that.
“It took us a little bit of time to figure that out but once we did I thought our kids passed the ball very well,” Andres said. “We had some other kids step up tonight and hit some outside shots. And you can’t say enough about our defense.”
Danielle Kruegel came off the Quakers’ bench to lead them with 10 points, Andrea Seguin scored eight.
In December, Struthers traveled to Salem and lost, 52-37.
“You can throw out [the results of] that game,” Andres said. “I really believe that they are a fantastic team with some great players. We’re a fantastic team with some great players. It’s going to be a lot of fun and a great matchup.”
Added Grandy of Salem: “They are a very good team and hopefully we have gotten better. I’m sure they have gotten better, too.
Poland was led by Lauren Tadla and Jessica Yeager with 10 points apiece.