South Range holds off Ursuline

February 25, 2016 at 12:10a.m.

South Range, Canton CC advance to district final

STRUTHERS

South Range junior Taylor Naples admitted she didn’t think the long-range shot she launched early in the fourth quarter had a prayer of connecting.

“I thought it was so off,” Naples said.

Her coach, Tony Matisi, watched the ball leave Naples’ hands and felt the joy of seeing his team score three easy baskets to get back into the game evaporating.

But his “no, no, no” quickly converted into “yes, yes, yes” as the ball banked off the backboard into the net for a 3-pointer that put the Raiders ahead for keeps, wiping out a seven-point deficit to Ursuline to start the fourth quarter.

“That was big,” Matisi said.

Down the stretch, the Raiders made 8 of 11 free throws while the Irish missed 8 of 13 as South Range won, 60-58, in Wednesday’s Division III district semifinal at Struthers Fieldhouse.

The Raiders (23-2) will play Canton Central Catholic in the district final at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Crusaders advanced by defeating Columbiana, 52-26.

Naples scored 11 points including three 3-pointers. None was bigger than the one that put the Raiders ahead 50-48.

“I have no clue how that went in,” Naples said. “It felt good, especially because we got the lead.”

Moments later, Lynnie Ritter scored a basket and Maddie Durkin made two free throws to cap a 13-0 run that wiped out a 48-41 deficit to start the final quarter.

The Irish (10-14) weren’t finished as freshman Dayshanette Harris and junior Simone Comer continued their second-half scoring assault. The two combined to score 29 of 30 of Ursuline’s points in the last half of the game.

But the Irish finished 10 of 24 from the foul line.

“They hurt,” Ursuline coach Vannessa Dickson said of the misses. “Give credit to South Range — they scouted us, they were ready for us.”

Early on, the game seesawed with neither team able to sustain an edge.

But with 2:50 remaining in the third quarter, Harris scored to give the Irish a 42-34 lead. The Raiders rode out the storm to set up their fourth-quarter surge.

Naples admitted the Raiders were “nervous but when we got the first three steals and we were down by one, we all knew we could come back.”

Matisi encouraged his team to stay positive.

“I honestly told them that as quick as Ursuline got that lead, they’re going to give it up,” Matisi said. “We got a couple of easy buckets and they believed at that point in what I said.

“And we just buckled down and played some good defense in the last three-four minutes when we hadn’t played any defense at all the whole game.”

Harris scored a game-high 28 points while Comer scored 23.

“They are tremendous,” Matisi said. “We tried everything — there was no way we slowed them down.”

Naples agreed.

“They were just taking it to the hoop,” Naples said.

Durkin scored 25 points to lead the Raiders. She made 14 of her 22 foul shots.

Naples finished with 13 points while seniors Ritter and Morgan Czopur each scored 11.

Canton Central Catholic 52, Columbiana 26

The Clippers limited the much taller Crusaders to seven points in the opening quarter, then watched the game slip away.

“Our kids just played [like] deer in the headlights,” Columbiana head coach Ron Moschella said. “They’ve got to learn to play in big ballgames.

“They are big but you beat teams like that by going under them,” Moschella said. “[Crusaders] coach [Gary Isler] coached well — Canton Central Catholic has a good team.”

Clippers senior Brynn Pennell scored 11 points.

“That’s been our biggest weakness,” Pennell said of battling the taller Crusaders. “We knew we had to get them into foul trouble and had to be careful with our passes because their wingspan is so long.

“It didn’t work out,” Pennell said.

Kate Farey led the Crusaders with 18 points while Sarah Miller scored 10.

“They are big and strong, all five [starters],” Matisi said. “But we do well [against size]. We get a quick team like [Ursuline], we can’t defend.

“I think we will be able to defend a little better and hopefully we can score,” Matisi said.

In the regular season, Ursuline defeated Canton Central Catholic.

“It will be a pretty interesting show,” Dickson said.