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Wildcats feed off of doubt
Special to the Vindicator
Photo
Struthers' Katelyn Ardale (11) heads down court as Jenn Bjelac (14) plays defense Monday night in Struthers.
GAME TIME:
Who: Struthers vs. Mentor Lake Catholic
When: 8 p.m.
Where:
Barberton High School
By Tom Williams
STRUTHERS
You don’t need to spend much time with the Struthers High girls basketball team to find out what motivates them.
“I’m really proud of these girls because they’ve been kind of underdogs with a chip on their shoulders ... maybe I should say boulder,” said Struthers coach John Grandy after the Wildcats (20-4) defeated West Branch 42-25 on Saturday to earn their second straight Division II district championship.
“It’s one of the greatest accomplishments we could have asked for coming from what people were saying that we were going to be nothing,” senior Amanda Ditman said.
Doubters “pushed us so much harder,” Ditman said. “It made us want to show them how wrong they were ... and show how great we really were.”
Junior post player Hannah Dubec said the Wildcats “still have to prove that we belong here, that we deserve this.
“All the local schools didn’t believe that we could do it because we lost such great players last year,” Dubec said. “But we knew that if we worked hard that anything was possible, that we could make it back.
“And we did.”
Unlike Ursuline and Lowellville who also earned regional trips, Struthers did it after replacing four starters from the 2009-10 team — Dana Mathews, Helen-Marie Hird, Ashley Baron and Katelyn Opritza.
Senior guard Katelyn Ardale, who scored 21 points against the Warriors, is the only starter back.
“You can’t replace them because they were very good players,” Ardale said. “The fact that they were so good, no one thought that we were going to be good.”
The Wildcats showed their program is growing stronger.
“My friends were telling me to quit before the season even started ... because no one thought we would do good,” Ardale said. “I knew ... we were going to work every day. We put in the time.”
The Wildcats tied Liberty for the All-American Conference White Tier title, their second straight.
For Grandy and Dubec, the season’s turning point came in the second game, a 43-33 victory at Canfield.
“I know Canfield had a bad game,” Grandy said. “Coach [Pat] Pavlansky said that game was a wake-up for them. I also believe it was a confidence booster for us.”
Dubec agrees.
“After Canfield, we knew that we could do [contend],” Dubec said. “For me, that was the one where we [learned] that we could do special things.”
Tonight, the Wildcats return to Barberton to face Mentor Lake Catholic in a regional semifinal.
“That’s crazy,” Ardale said. “Barberton was nowhere in our sights at the beginning of the year. And now we’re going to Barberton to maybe earn a trip to state, that’s amazing. We’re really blessed.”
In last year’s 50-46 semifinal win over Geneva, Ardale sank four free throws in the final 32 seconds to seal the victory.
“I just remember falling into the stands and getting fouled and having to hit the four foul shots at the end,” Ardale said. “I still have the scars on my knees.”
Dubec recalls being impressed with the giant scoreboard that includes a video screen.
“Just walking into the gym and seeing the big scoreboard, it was unbelievable,” Dubec said. “Ever since, I’ve wanted to go back.”
The Wildcats will have their hands full with Mentor Lake Catholic (22-2), the second-ranked team in the final Associated Press state poll. The Wildcats are happy for the opportunity.
“Being in the regionals is the greatest accomplishment, going farther and farther when no one thought we could,” Ditman said.