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Healing Blue Devils roll into district final
By Tom Williams
MINERAL RIDGE
After contributing 11 points, 10 rebounds and two steals to lead the Western Reserve High girls basketball team to a 49-33 win over Lordstown, senior Aleah Hughes was asked if the Jackson-Milton/Western Reserve rivalry is similar to Poland/Canfield.
Hughes, who has been battling the flu for days, smiled, probably a rare sight the past few days.
“Definitely,” Hughes said. “For sure. I haven’t been around it as long but you can definitely feel the tension between the two schools.”
Hughes was a varsity athlete for Poland during her freshman and sophomore years. Her top-seeded Blue Devils (19-6) will defend last year’s Division IV district title on Saturday against Jackson-Milton (18-7).
On Feb. 9, the Blue Devils rallied to beat their backyard rivals, 46-38. Hughes said she’s not surprised there will be a rematch.
“I knew they had the potential [to oust Columbiana],” Hughes said. In a tournament game, anything can happen.”
Jackson-Milton trailed Columbiana by eight points before rallying for a 51-42 victory in Wednesday’s other semifinal at Mineral Ridge High School.
“That’s definitely hard to do,” Hughes said.
Senior guard Sydney Miller expects a battle if the Blue Devils are going to earn a second regional trip.
“Jackson is going to play us tough,” Miller said, “but whatever they are going to bring to the table, we’re going to bring, too.
“And the best team will win.”
The Blue Devils had little trouble with Lordstown as they raced to a 12-0 lead.
Then, their offense sputtered as both teams struggled to score.
“Offensively, we stunk for the most part,” Western Reserve head coach Steve Miller said. “We’ve got four almost averaging in double figures, but Aleah makes our offense go.”
Miller was impressed Hughes performed so well after missing practices and school while healing.
“We have a couple of other girls dinged up, so we did a lot of mental preparation, some walk-through [drills],” Miller said. “Offensively, we looked like it today.”
Defensively, the Blue Devils excelled, limiting the Red Devils to just 10 points in the first half in jumping out to a 24-10 lead.
“Defense is what we do in Berlin Center,” Miller said. “I was pleased with our defensive effort, but there were some things we did not do well. Our weak-side help was nice. We took away a lot that they like to do. We disrupted them.”
Lauren Falasca led the Blue Devils with 12 points. Rachel Maslach scored nine points and Alexis Hughes came off the bench to score seven.
For Lordstown, Talia Tobin and Marlena Liming finished their varsity careers with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Miller agrees with his daughter that Saturday’s district final will be a challenge. “They fight, their girls play hard, they’re scrappy,” Miller said.