It’s indescribable, it’s amazing’: Struthers wins 2nd straight title

March 6, 2011 at 12:07a.m.

AUSTINTOWN

The role was reversed for the Struthers High girls basketball team in Saturday’s district final at Fitch High.

The result was the same.

Last year, the Wildcats rallied to upset Salem to earn a regional trip to Barberton.

This season, John Grandy’s Wildcats — despite losing four starters to graduation — played so well that they were voted No. 1 seed. Paced by senior guard Katelyn Ardale’s 21 points, they proved they deserved it when they ousted second-seeded West Branch, 42-25.

“We lost great players but this group is pretty special,” said Grandy, who lost starters Dana Mathews, Helen-Marie Hird, Katelyn Opritza and Ashley Baron. “On defense, I thought we shut them down and made it hard for them to get a good shot.

“And we did a good job of rebounding. We [often] held them to one shot and I thought our kids worked extremely hard,” Grandy said. “We’re a little ugly on offense but that’s all right if you [defend well]. That might have been our best game of the year. It all started with defense.”

Tuesday at 8 p.m., the Wildcats (20-4) will return to Barberton to face Mentor Lake Catholic in the regional semifinal. In the first quarter, Ardale, the lone remaining starter from 2009-10, scored six of her 21 points as the Wildcats jumped out to an 8-2 lead.

Citing Sir Isaac Newton, Grandy said, “Katelyn is like that Energizer Bunny, she never stops. Is there a law about Conservation of Energy, that you can’t destroy it or create it but it just stays constant? That’s her — the Ardale Conservation of Energy Law.”

The Warriors (18-6) struggled, missing 16 shots in the first half as they fell behind 21-9.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well today especially early,” West Branch coach Walt DeShields said. “We tried to get our defense to get our offense going and we did a little bit of that in the second quarter, but it’s hard to sustain that against a good team like Struthers.

“It came down to offense and we never really got that big run that we needed,” DeShields said. “Our girls took the ball to the basket strong but some of the balls did not go in for us.“

Ardale didn’t agree with the observation that Struthers was the favorite.

“People say we weren’t the underdogs, but we feel like we are the underdogs because there are so many people who doubt us, that don’t believe in us,” Ardale said. “Coaches from other teams were saying we were the worst first-seeded team they had ever seen in the district.

“So we wanted to prove them all wrong,” said Ardale of the Wildcats’ motivation. “And the worst first-seeded team just won districts.”

Senior Amanda Ditman, who was last year’s first player off the bench, said she felt a difference because of starting.

“Today is great, it’s the best feeling to know that we were a huge part of it this year,” said Ditman after making four rebounds and blocking a shot. “Being a senior, it’s the greatest feeling in the world.

“Coming in, we were all so pumped up and so excited, we wanted it so bad just for our city, they always put us down, and we’re never good enough,” Ditman said. “Now, we’re showing them how good we are.”

Junior post player Hannah Dubec scored seven points, made eight rebounds and blocked two shots.

“It’s indescribable, it’s amazing, it’s the best feeling,” Dubec said through tears about repeating as district champion.

“Mr. Grandy said there was no pressure because all we had to do was go out and perform. I think we did that.”

Andrea Wingett and Taylor Metzgar led the Warriors with seven and six points, respectively.