Hughes helps WR cash in against JM

February 23, 2014 at 12:08a.m.

BERLIN CENTER

A few minutes after her double-double powered Western Reserve into the district semifinals, Aleah Hughes’ dad walked over and gave her $20.

“I’m not paying her for [tonight’s performance],” he joked.

Well, she did have 17 rebounds. Maybe she should give $3 back.

“That was her fourth-highest [total] of the year, so she had an average game,” Blue Devils coach Steve Miller said, grinning.

Average or not, Hughes was money all night, scoring 19 points to go with three assists and four steals as Reserve beat visiting Jackson-Milton 56-44 in Saturday’s Division IV sectional final.

“All year long, our focus has been to pound it inside to Rachel [Maslach] and Aleah,” Miller said. “After halftime, that’s what we came out and did.”

Jackson-Milton’s defense gave the Blue Devils fits for much of the first half, forcing 11 turnovers to trail stay close at halftime, 23-20. But Reserve scored the first eight points of the second half thanks to better passes and a more patient approach.

“We lost our composure a little bit in the first half,” Miller said. “Against their pressure, we basically turning it over ourselves. It wasn’t like they were creating them [turnovers].

“I told the girls all year long: We can be better than teams if we have more heart and we have more composure and savvy and mental capacity.”

Reserve led 42-30 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter before the Bluejays started chipping away. They forced four straight turnovers during one 90-second stretch to get within five, 44-39, with two minutes left.

But the Blue Devils made 12 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter to close it out.

“They were hitting everything,” said JM coach Pat Keney, whose team beat Reserve 64-62 in overtime on Feb. 13. “I don’t know how many foul shots they missed, but it wasn’t many. They did what they needed to do to beat us.”

Tory White had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Blue Devils (18-6), who will meet Lordstown in a district semifinal Thursday at 7 p.m. at Mineral Ridge High School. Maslach aded 11 points and six rebounds.

Becca Jones scored 19 points with seven rebounds and four steals for Jackson-Milton (15-9). Madison Tomaino added 11 points.

Freshmen twins Ashley and Kaitlyn Totani finished with a combined nine points after scoring 29 in the Feb. 13 meeting. Overall, Jackson-Milton shot just 15 of 56 from the field and was out-rebounded 37-30.

“We knew if we executed our defense we could beat them and that’s what we did tonight,” Hughes said.