Another close one, but Struthers hangs on to defeat Geneva

By TOM WILLIAMS

williams@vindy.com

BARBERTON

During the most successful season in 30 years for the Struthers High girls basketball team, there have been few close calls.

One of them came last Thursday against West Branch in the Division II district semifinal when the Wildcats squandered a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter before winning. Another was on Saturday when the Wildcats rallied from a three-point deficit in the final frame to win the district title against Salem.

Senior forward Helen-Marie Hird said that experience paid major dividends on Tuesday as the Wildcats endured another nail-biter, hanging on to defeat Geneva, 50-46, in regional semifinal at Barberton High.

“It was like when West Branch came back,” Hird said after the Eagles outscored the Wildcats 18-11 in the final period. “Once we realized that, we knew we had to get our composure back, to play hard. It definitely helped” to have gone through it six nights before.

“We’ve learned from the past two games because they’ve been close in the fourth quarter,” said Hird who had eight rebounds.

Friday the Wildcats (20-5) will return to Barberton High to play Hathaway Brown (20-4) for the regional title and a trip to Columbus. Struthers coach John Grandy said it’s the furthest the Wildcats have advanced since 1980.

Senior guard Dana Mathews led the Wildcats (20-5) with 27 points before fouling out with seven seconds remaining.

“That was rough,” said Mathews of watching the finish from the bench. “I don’t usually foul out but I was going as hard as I could.

“This is a dream come true,” Mathews said. “Now that we are here, we are cherishing every moment.”

Struthers led by 11 points after three quarters, and Mathews gave the Wildcats a 41-29 lead early in the fourth quarter before Geneva responded, scoring the next 10 points.

But the Eagles (19-5) were unable to tie the game as Mathews made three free throws and a basket to keep the Wildcats in front.

In the final minute, the 5-foot-6 Mathews was called for charging (her fourth foul) when she drove into Geneva’s 6-foot Natalie Stanley. Fifty-one seconds later, she fouled out trying to stop Stanley from underneath.

Coming through with four clutch free throws in six attempts in the final 32 seconds was junior guard Katelyn Ardale.

“She put the foul [shot] through to seal the game,” Grandy said of Ardale’s final point with 4.6 seconds remaining. “It shows we have some other good people on the team as well as Dana.

“We gutted it out at the end, the clock couldn’t go fast enough,” Grandy said.

“It was a hard-fought game, it wasn’t a game of skill but of heart and pounding and pushing. Balls were rolling around and people were laying on the ground,” Grandy said. “It’s good to get a victory like that.”

Ardale said she had an overwhelming feeling when the buzzer sounded.

“Relief,” said Ardale who scored 11 points. “I don’t feel like this is real. We had confidence from beating Salem but we knew this was going to be hard.”

Six-foot Taylor Webb led the Eagles with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

“She can do a lot of things,” Grandy said of Webb. “I was very impressed with their whole team, how they never quit.”