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Fitch’s big rally hands Struthers first loss
By Doug Chapin
STRUTHERS
Fitch High used a 19-2 third-quarter run to get back into the game, then showed poise and patience down the stretch to hand the Struthers High girls basketball team its first loss of the season, 49-46, Thursday night in an All-American Conference American Division game.
“As a program we grew up tonight,” Fitch coach Stacie Cepin said. “For our kids to have composure in the final minutes and take care of the basketball, I was so proud of them. We executed and were able to finish off the game.
“It was an unbelievable comeback, every part of our team was involved, and I’m just really proud of what we’ve done.”
The Wildcats (9-1, 4-1 AAC American) led 17-6 after one quarter, 32-17 at halftime and 35-19 a minute into the second half. Fitch (6-3, 2-2 AAC American) then ran off 10 straight points, yielded a Struthers bucket, then scored nine more in a row to take a 38-37 lead with 43 seconds left in the quarter.
Struthers scored again and led 39-38 at the end of the quarter, but Fitch scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and never relinquished the lead.
“I thought Austintown did a good job of taking away some of the things we were doing in the first half,” Struthers coach John Grandy said. “I think Austintown did a good job in the second half of out-rebounding us. They pounded us on the glass, we were in foul trouble.
“Even going into halftime we knew we had some problems; there was a height disadvantage. My hat’s off to Austintown, they did a good job of doing what they had to do.”
Fitch’s Megan Sefcik scored 18 of her game-high 24 points in the second half. She also had four steals and four blocked shots, including three in the fourth quarter. Maura Bianco battled inside, finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Brenda Thompson recorded four assists.
Senior Anissa Hill overcame a first-half ankle injury to dish out seven assists and provide senior leadership down the stretch for the Falcons.
“Anissa was a true warrior tonight with that ankle injury; she’s hurting right now,” Cepin said. “This is probably one of the biggest moments in her career, being as tough as she was tonight and being a leader on the floor for us. I’m so proud of her. She’s come a long way.”
Struthers got 15 points and nine rebounds from Brittaney Zupko, 12 points from McKenna Shives, 10 from Ashley Hefferon and four assists from Ashleigh Ryan.
The Wildcats won their first nine games with a sophomore-laden lineup.
“I didn’t think we’d be where we’re at, but I’ll tell you what, I’ve got good girls, they are good competitors,” Grandy said about the first half of the season. “They’re a little hurt right now and they’re young and they’ll get over it. They’re tough, they’ll be together and they’ve got a lot of character. We’ll get better for this.”
For Fitch, the key to the comeback was defense.
“We preached about how making defensive stops was going to create some opportunities on offense,” Cepin said. “We had to dig in and just take it one possession at a time. We believed in our defense and good things came out of it. On offense we were patient, patient, patient, we chipped away and the next thing you know we were down a point and right back in the game.
“We’ve withstood a lot of adversity over the last two weeks with just not being successful and we picked ourselves up. It’s a long season, there are plenty more tough games to go but tonight this is feeling good.”