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Not this time: Western Reserve finds a way to beat McDonald
Prepared
W. Reserve
eliminates
McDonald
By Dan Hiner
Mineral Ridge
It was all about preparation for Western Reserve girls basketball coach Steve Miller and his team.
From the players’ entrance on the court to cutting down the nets, Miller had the players ready for every possible event.
The planning led to Western Reserve’s 46-39 win over McDonald in the Division IV district final on Saturday at Mineral Ridge High School.
Miller was so prepared he almost got the final score correct.
“My kids can attest to this, I told them we win tonight 44-36,” Miller said. “I was a little bit off, but we thought the score was going to be a little bit down there.”
Western Reserve leaned on Dani Vuletich and Alyssa Serensky in the fourth quarter while McDonald was making a comeback. The Western Reserve duo scored 10 of their teams’ 13 points in the quarter.
Vuletich finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and a block while Serensky had 10 points and five rebounds.
McDonald beat Western Reserve in their two regular-season meetings. The previous losses didn’t sit well with the Western Reserve players.
“We just wanted to take it at them,” Vuletich said. “We beat them when it counted, so it was a great win for us.”
Western Reserve (22-3) led 6-4 at the end of the first quarter, but McDonald tied it at 15 in the second. Western Reserve ended the half on an 11-0 run to break the game open.
McDonald (22-3) trimmed the lead to 42-39 with under two minutes to play, but Serensky made two free throws and Vuletich split a pair to push the game out of reach.
“[Vuletich and Serensky] are both first-teamers in the league for a reason,” Miller said. “They both play a lot of ball all year round. Their experience, their knowledge of the game was huge.”
McDonald played most of the second half without leading scorer Olivia Perry. She had seven points before injuring her leg with 5:41 left in the third.
Perry returned to the game with three minutes left, but didn’t score.
“She’s a senior and I know that she was going to make sure that no matter what she was going to be able to come back out and at least try to fight,” McDonald head coach Amy Dolsak said. “Which she did and I’m proud of her for that, but I also know it’s disappointing to her as well.”
Sophia Costantino took over the scoring load with Perry out. Costantino scored eight points in the second half, finishing with 12 points and five rebounds.
“We were looking for people to step up and we told them that we needed everybody to step up,” Dolsak said. “And she was one that came through for us and really fought as hard as she could to knock down some big shots for us to come back.”
Western Reserve will play Dalton in a regional semifinal at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Massillon Perry High School.
Miller’s preparation didn’t start in the district round. Western Reserve began scouting Dalton early in the regular season.
“We were already scouting them Game 1 of the year before we even played at Thanksgiving time,” Miller said.
“We were already preparing for this moment.”