Bulldogs beat down Buchtel

March 6, 2019 at 12:10a.m.

Strong defense carries Poland to regional semifinal victory

BARBERTON

When the Poland girls basketball team turns up the defensive heat, dominance ensues.

The undefeated Bulldogs pressured the Griffins into 10 turnovers in the second quarter in Tuesday’s 59-38 romp over Akron Buchtel in the Division II regional semifinal at Barberton High School.

Poland outscored Buchtel, 13-1, in that frame. But head coach Nick Blanch wasn’t ready to relax.

“Buchtel has been a fourth-quarter team, a second-half team,” Blanch said. “In the district final, they were down by 15 ... and scored 30 in the fourth quarter.”

There was no second-half magic for the Griffins against the Bulldogs.

Junior forward Kailyn Brown sparked the Bulldogs (26-0) with 15 points and six rebounds.

“This is a crazy feeling — we work so hard,” Brown said. “We love each other so much.”

Blanch said Brown has blossomed from “a quiet, low-confidence freshman to someone we tell how good she can be and she’s starting to believe it.

“That’s scary for everyone else because that girl is special. She can handle the ball, she can score, she can rebound, she can block shots — she can do it all. She’s just got to continue to believe in herself.”

Senior guard Sarah Bury scored 14 points, freshman forward Morgan Kluchar scored eight and sophomore Brooke Bobbey seven.

Imani Jackson led the Griffins with 13 points. Da’Veonna Nash and Javaan Rogers each scored eight.

Poland will play for its first state appearance since 2000 on Friday against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.

The Griffins (19-7) frustrated the Bulldogs early in Poland’s first regional game in 19 seasons. Three times in the opening minutes, Poland turned the ball over before getting to half court as Buchtel opened up a 11-7 lead.

Then, the game changed quickly as Poland converted three steals into baskets for a 13-11 lead. The Bulldogs never trailed again.

“It was great,” Bury said of the surge. “We had momentum going and a nice student section here.

“Our crowd was amazing.”

Almost too amazing. Blanch said the boisterous atmosphere took some time to adjust to.

“We settled down as far as executing our press breakers,” Blanch said. “In that atmosphere, they couldn’t even hear the calls.

“Our student section was phenomenal, our adult section was phenomenal,” Blanch said. “They came to cheer and they did it well and we couldn’t hear anything. So there was some confusion as to what press-breaker we were in and what we were supposed to be doing.”

Blanch said his staff started using sign language.

Winning so easily “was amazing,” Bury said, “just to know that could have been our last game. To have the season we’re having and to continue to play the way we have is awesome.

Brown said the message at halftime was that the game was far from over.

“We had to keep going like the score was 0-0,” Brown said.

Blanch credited assistant coach Chris Martin for creating their defensive schemes.

“He is our defensive guy,” Blanch said. “He did a great job of mapping this one out.”