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Ursuline wins on late surge
By JOHN KOVACH
MINERAL RIDGE
The offensive perform-ances by Ursuline and Campbell in the final few minutes of their Division III district championship game Saturday afternoon proved to be the difference between victory and defeat.
The Red Devils, who trailed most of the game, battled back to take a one-point lead with about five minutes left, but then went cold from the field and at the line while making crucial turnovers.
The Irish, meanwhile, made shots, reeling off a 12-2 scoring advantage to close with a 52-43 victory for their eighth regional berth in 12 years under coach Sean Durkin.
Aurielle Irizarry scored 14 points, Kaneesha Tensley 13, Dominique Jenkins 10 and Courtney Powell nine to spearhead a balanced attack for Ursuline (13-9), which advanced to the regional tournament at Cuyahoga Falls.
The Irish will face Smithville (23-1) on Wednesday in a semifinal. Smithville advanced with a 65-36 win over Manchester in the Wooster district final.
Irizarry and Jenkins contributed four points each and Tensley a 3-point goal to fuel the Irish’s late run. It was Tensley’s 3 that gave Ursuline the lead for good, 43-41.
“Luckily we made a couple of buckets down the stretch and that made the difference,” said Durkin, who guided the Irish to a state title in 2004 and to the state final in 2006.
Durkin didn’t think Ursuline’s defense was the reason for Campbell’s late offensive struggles, but that the Red Devils tired which affected their shooting accuracy.
“We didn’t change anything. The shots they made [previously] ceased to fall, luckily for us.”
Coach Mike Szenborn of Campbell (18-4) agreed.
“Fatigue could have been a factor down the stretch,” said Szenborn, whose Red Devils took the lead for the first time, 39-38, with 4:40 left on Tashira Uceta’s 3-point goal, and again 41-40 for the last time on another Uceta basket.
Uceta finished with 20 points, including all 11 of Campbell’s fourth quarter points. Jayaira Grhim added 14 points and Brande Ellington scored eight.
“We’re not as deep [on the bench],” said Szenborn. “[Iesha] Moses and Ellington each got four fouls in the fourth quarter, and we had to keep them out a minute to rest them, but we had to bring them back in.”
The Red Devils were only 3-for-8 from the field and 2-for-6 at the foul line in the final quarter.
“We got to the free throw line but we couldn’t make our foul shots,” said Szenborn. “We had a key turnover after Uceta made her 3-point goal that gave us the lead, and we missed a chance to build on that.”
It was a very physical game and three players were injured.
Campbell lost Tiera Graves early in the game with a shoulder injury, while Ursuline lost Chase Connors and Shamia Harrison to injuries.
“It was a physical game, probably the most physical that I have ever been a part of,” said Durkin, noting that losing Connors and Harrison “took us from a 9-deep rotation to a 7-deep rotation.”