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Trimmer, defense lead WB to another district title
Photo
West Branch senior Pavin Heath and her teammates celebrate after defeating Mogadore Field for their second consecutive Division II district title on Thursday at Fitch High School in Austintown. The Warriors downed the Falcons, 55-29, behind Melinda Trimmer, who finished the night with 24 points.
West Branch
defense sets tone
against Field
By Curtis Pulliam
AUSTINTOWN
After going most of the second quarter without scoring a point, the West Branch Warriors knew they had to score before the half.
Coming out of a timeout, Melinda Trimmer took over.
The senior scored eight consecutive points to spark a 11-2 run to help the Warriors beat Mogadore Field, 55-29, to earn back-to-back Division II district titles.
Trimmer finished with 24 points and eight assists.
“I just can’t believe I’m here again,” she said. “I have been waiting for this moment for a while.”
Trimmer, a Youngstown State commit, hit two 3-pointers and a runner in the lane as the Warriors turned a 14-12 lead into a 22-14 advantage going into the half.
“Yeah, I think my teammates rely on me do that a little bit,” Trimmer said. “A lot of our plays, I need to get them started and find the open teammates.”
Trimmer found plenty of them in the Warriors’ 23-8 third quarter.
Pavin Heath was one recipient. She knocked down a big 3-pointer to push the Warriors’ lead to 35-18. Heath finished with nine points.
“Sometimes it takes me a while to get into a grove,” said Heath, who was held without a field goal until the third. “But when that happens they get open looks for me and I get it done.”
What was said during the timeout and halftime seemed to spark the Warriors (25-1).
“He [coach Walt DeShields] said, ‘We got to work hard and nothing is going to come easy for us,’” Heath said. “We have to come out and play for 32 minutes, we can’t take any breaks.”
During that slow start DeShields knew his group needed a wake-up call.
“They play good defense,” DeShields said. “They make it awfully tough for you to get some easy ones.”
The Falcons (20-6) seemed a little nervous offensively scoring just four points. But they used an 8-0 run in the second quarter to pull within two.
And that’s when Trimmer stepped in.
She is good,” said Falcons head coach Craig Nettleton. “I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half of getting through screens. They screen well and if you aren’t disciplined, you are going to have a breakdown.”
Defensively the Warriors used their pressure trap to force turnovers.
“Our defense, we feed off of that,” DeShields said. “Coming into the game, I thought we had a pretty good chance to hold them to 40. I’d never thought we would hold them under 30.”
The Falcons were led by Camille Adelman’s 10 points.
Nettleton was ultimately proud of this girls’ effort.
“They are terrific kids,” Nettleton said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group.”
The Warriors are moving on to face Chagrin Falls in a Division II regional semifinal. Chagrin Falls defeated Akron St-Vincent-St Mary in its district semifinal and Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown in the district final.
SV-SM was the only team to beat West Branch this season. The Fighting Irish beat the Warriors, 50-43, on Jan. 3.
The rematch is set for 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday at Barberton High School.
“We’re going to get back to the drawing board and do some film work,” DeShields said. “We are only going to focus on who we play next.”
Having been in this situation before, Heath is not satisfied.
“We want to get even farther than we did last year,” Heath said. “This is another stepping stone that we have to take.”