‘I think we got closer’

Photo by: Rami Daud

The Vindicator (Youngstown)

Photo

Lowellville's Rachel Durbin pushes past Shadyside's Karli Bonar (22) and Sarah Neavin (32).

Hvisdak returns but Rockets can’t overcome bad start

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

MASSILLON

Twelve days before playing Shadyside in the Division IV regional semifinal, Lowellville High girls basketball coach Tony Matisi was standing over his leading scorer, junior guard Taylor Hvisdak, as she clutched her knee and cried out in pain, an all-too-familiar scene for a man who’s seen more than his fair share of ACL injuries.

“I’m out on the floor and she’s crumpled in a mess, screaming, crying,” he said.

It was only the sectional final, but the Rockets’ dreams of Columbus were over.

Or were they?

A day after an MRI confirmed the tear, Hvisdak started physical therapy and promised her coach, “If you get to the regional, I’m going to play.”

On Thursday night, she kept her promise, coming off the bench to gut out a 14-point, six-rebound performance — both team-highs — for a Rocket team that couldn’t overcome a disastrous first quarter, falling 71-57 at Perry High School.

The key stretch came midway through the first quarter with the Rockets leading 6-4. Shadyside upped its defensive pressure and the Rockets stumbled, committing five straight turnovers, then missing two straight shots, as the Tigers went on a 15-0 run that tilted Lowellville’s court uphill for the next 27 minutes.

Matisi, who mistook the thunderstorm for a shower, opted not to call timeout until it was too late.

“That was the game for us,” he said. “We could never really catch up.”

Hvisdak didn’t enter the game until the tail end of the run and looked like a cat that had just been declawed, unsure of whether to sit back or attack. But she grew more confident as the game went on, scoring 10 of her points in the third quarter — including Lowellville’s final eight — as the Rockets cut their deficit to six, 56-50, entering the fourth.

“I was nervous at first but as the time started ticking down, I knew I had to pick it up for my team,” she said. “Then I wasn’t worried about the knee, just about my team and winning the game.”

Added Matisi, “I haven’t seen ... I don’t know what I want to call it — moxie? guts? — in a long time.”

The Rockets cut it to five, 58-53, with 6:40 left in the fourth quarter but the Tigers’ depth, talent and height proved too much down the stretch.

“They’re a really good team,” said Hvisdak, who will have surgery in two weeks. “It seemed like every time we scored, they would put two more points on the board.

“Sometimes the other team keeps coming back at you.”

Sophomore Rachel Durbin scored 14 points and junior Emily Carlson had 11 points and four assists for Lowellville. Sophomore Hayley Holenka scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures for Shadyside (25-0), which will meet Cornerstone Christian or Dalton in Saturday’s final.

It was the third straight regional semifinal loss for Lowellville (24-1), which lost another starter, sophomore Kaye Solak, to an ACL tear in December. The injuries forced Matisi to shift from a pressuring man-to-man defense to a zone, which doesn’t work for a team that plays five guards. The 71 points were 12 more than any other team scored against Lowellville this season.

But with everyone back, Matisi believes next year’s team gives him his best shot at Columbus, provided he can shed what his wife affectionately calls the “black cloud” hovering around him.

“We better,” he said, chuckling. “I think we got closer this year.

“We just need a little more firepower.”

And a little more height?

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m looking into buying a rack and getting them stretched a little.”