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GIRLS tournament BASKETBALL | THURSDAY’S sectionals
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Ursuline’s Courtney Powell (32) drives to the hoop during the Irish’s Division III sectional basketball game Thursday against the LaBrae Vikings at Mineral Ridge High School. Ursuline dominated LaBrae, 58-26.
Quick starts pay off
By Jim Flick
MINERAL RIDGE
The Ursuline and South Range high school girls basketball teams both surged to early leads to record victories Thursday in the Division III tournament at Mineral Ridge High School.
Ursuline (14-7) dominated from the start in a 58-26 win over LaBrae (10-12). The Irish led 16-3 after the first quarter.
“Ursuline’s a very good team,” LaBrae coach Lisa Aldridge said. “They pushed us around a little bit because they’re a lot more aggressive.”
South Range (13-8) also got off to strong start, leading Newton Falls 17-8 at the end of the first quarter on the way to a 62-53 victory.
Ursuline and South Range will meet in Thursday’s district semifinal.
“We’re not really a high-scoring team,” Irish coach Courtney Davidson said. “We focus on the defensive end and try to get our points off the defensive end.”
The strong Irish defense held LaBrae without a field goal until little more than two minutes remained in the first half.
“We talked about coming out from the gate and setting a tempo and sending a message,” Davidson said. “You can’t let teams hang around, because if you do it might be that one team that knocks you off.
Courtney Powell led the Irish with 14 points and was a dominant presence inside.
“We all want to be tough players,” Powell said. “That goes for the whole team. We want play hard, rebound hard.”
Ursuline dominated the boards, 46-28. The leading rebounder for the Irish was 5-foot, 5-inch senior Aurielle Irizarry, who also tallied 13 points.
Irizarry said the key to her rebounding success against taller players was “boxing out, going up and getting the ball. It’s a challenge because I’m usually one of the littlest.”
In the other game, South Range led by as much as 12 points in the first quarter, then battled against Newton Falls’ repeated comebacks.
The Tigers (13-8) drew within four points, 42-38, early in the fourth quarter, but South Range pulled away late thanks to defense and success from the charity stripe.
“We thought we’d set the tone with our defensive pressure,” South Range coach Wayne Johnson said. “But it was a tough game, a tough game all round.”
Junior Lexi Naples led the Raiders with 17 points.
“In the first quarter, we came out ready to play,” Naples said.
Senior Kristin Robinson pulled down 12 rebounds for the Raiders and tallied 10 points. Kelsey Maynard, a senior, added 15 points and sophomore Stevie Taylor contributed 13 points.
Newton Falls sophomore Brooke Barrecca scored a game-high 32 points and pulled down 16 rebounds.
“She’s maybe the best post player we’ve faced all year,” Johnson said.
Newton Falls coach Mark Baker said nerves were a factor.
“In the first quarter, the kids looked nervous,” Baker said. “My kids played really well in the second half, but every time we would make a little bit of a run South Range would knock down some free throws.
“[We] were motivated to play, but I just think you a little bit of butterflies floating around.”