Blog
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Woodridge girls defeat Southeast 65-38
CUYAHOGA FALLS: SheKiera Brooks is quick to say that she is really superstitious.
As far as the Woodridge senior is concerned, 13 is a sweet number.
The Bulldogs continue to improve on their own school record as they defeated Southeast 65-38 at Woodridge on Wednesday night in a Portage Trail Conference County Division game.
With the victory, the Bulldogs are 13-0 overall. They already had surpassed the best start in school history, which was 9-1.
Woodridge is also 9-0 in the division and looking for its first conference title since the 1999-2000 season.
Brooks is the Bulldogs leader and she showed off her skills in the victory over the Pirates (7-6, 6-3). The senior guard scored 18 points, had five assists, eight rebounds and eight steals.
For most players, a bad shoot-around is not a good sign for the upcoming game, but that is not the case for Brooks.
When I have a bad shoot-around, it means I am going to have a good game, Brooks said. If I miss all my free throws in the shoot-around I think I will make them all in a game. I couldnt buy a basket in warm-ups and did not have a good first quarter, but then I started playing in the flow of the game.
Bulldogs coach Chris Esterak said having a four-year starter like Brooks is important to the teams success.
I have a great floor leader in SheKiera Brooks. She really sets the tone for us she is my coach on the floor, Esterak said. We are on the same page and I have the confidence in her she will settle the team down and make good decisions.
You can have great players in other places, but if you dont have a player to get them the ball and to break the press. We havent been pressed [much] in her four years here. They try here and there, but she is a one-man press breaker.
The Bulldogs are also a team with many dimensions.
Woodridge has the luxury of starting talented post players in Lizzie Wilkinson and Kara Kelleher. Wilkinson, a 6-foot junior who is coming off a back injury, scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
I rested all weekend and was ready to go, Wilkinson said.
Kelleher scored eight points and had two blocked shots.
She stepped up for us today in guarding Shayna White. Lizzie and Kara are a great tandem, Esterak said. Kara does not always get the scoring Lizzie does, but she does a lot of little things for us. She will guard the other teams biggest post player.
The Bulldogs showed their depth throughout the game, particularly when Morgan Thompson fouled out with a quick fourth foul and when she protested drew a technical foul, which was her fifth with 4:10 left in the third quarter.
When Thompson, who scored 14 points showing both long-range ability and several slick moves to the basket, fouled out, Esterak simply moved his guards around. Starter Kapri Watson had eight points and handled the ball more and Alex LoPrinzi stepped in and scored six points.
The Pirates got a terrific game from White, the junior center who was extremely effective on the offensive glass and led all scorers with 16 points, and Brittany Butcher came off the bench to score eight points.
Esterak said the team is far from perfect, needing more work on free throws, better defense in press situations, and making layups. While making sure the team keeps improving, the coach also is enjoying the record-breaking season.
It is a great ride. We focus a game at a time and if we do that we can go 20-0, Esterak said. Our goal is to get the highest seed possible [in the sectional-district tournament].
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Perfect Panthers hold off Royals' charge to win
FRANKLIN TWP.: Manchester has been virtually unchallenged by its opponents the entire season.
And Saturday afternoon, the Panthers looked like they would easily continue their undefeated season as they led Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy by 19 points at halftime.
A strong second half by the Royals challenged Manchester, but the Panthers clutch free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter was enough to defeat CVCA 70-63 in a PAC-7 game at Manchester High School.
In the first half, the Panthers (11-0, 8-0) played in machine-like fashion, running the fast break, rotating the ball around the perimeter and forcing 20 turnovers,.
Manchester coach Tucker Pappas watched his team play with energy and enthusiasm in the first half, and the game appeared to be on its way to becoming a blowout.
The first-quarter 19-16 lead was stretched to 42-23 by halftime.
We have spurts where we can go and hit you quick, Pappas said. Then we have mental lapses where we stop playing and we think it is over. It is frustrating.
You see glimpses of how good we can be, but then you see glimpses of how bad we can be. When we are not playing hard and playing smart. We are not very good.
It would be hard to convince CVCA of the final assessment.
When the defense was not forcing turnovers, the offense was crisp, hitting four 3-point shots in the first half, two from senior Angela Durgala, who scored 15 of her game-high 24 points.
Durgala credited the Royals for making adjustments, but was perplexed why the team struggled.
They [CVCA] started to recognize our jumps and what we were doing and took that stuff away, Durgala said. If we play like that [in the second half] we are going to be in a lot of trouble.
We were doing just dumb things like committing turnovers and not getting back on defense.
CVCA (8-4, 5-3) doubled its first-half output and outscored the Panthers 23-14 in the third quarter to cut the Panthers lead to 56-46.
The Royals more aggressive offensive attack also put Panther starters Kayci Krzynowek, Michelle Noble and Autumn Brown on the bench in the third quarter with four fouls each.
Ashley Tyna, who led the Royals with 17 points, scored nine points in the third quarter, Halston Maresh had six of her 15 points and Cassie Wilson scored five of her seven points in the quarter.
Pappas got on his team after the third quarter for not moving on defense.
The Panthers responded and slowed the Royals down enough in the fourth quarter to eke out the win despite Krzynowek, who had 18 points and is one of their best ball-handlers, fouling out.
The victory was also preserved by Noble, Durgala and Taylor Mattioli combining to make all eight of the teams free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
Royals coach Ryan Tyna said the difference between the first and second halves was as much mental as it was any physical changes.
We talk about playing with confidence and we gave them a little bit too much respect. There was a stretch in the second quarter where we did not get back on defense and got a little confused and they [the Panthers] made us pay for it, Tyna said.
It was 18-16 and we miss a layup and suddenly we are down 19. We werent moving hard with aggression to the rim.
The second half we did a better job of that, which opened up some kick-outs.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MBeavenABJ. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Tallmadge 61, Cuyahoga Falls 48: Blue Devils roll in second half
TALLMADGE: As the calendar has turned to 2012, the pressure to win seems to naturally pick up with the distraction of the holiday season behind everyone.
Players and coaches can try to deny it, but the two weeks around Christmas and New Year seems to take everyone out of sync.
That urgency of the new year seemed to kick in for Tallmadge in the second half as the host Blue Devils pulled away from Cuyahoga Falls and defeated the Black Tigers 61-48 Tuesday night in a nonleague game.
First-year Tallmadge coach Aaron Hinkle was happy to see his players finally find some rhythm as the game progressed.
We cannot make an excuse for not playing well during the break; everyone is in that situation, Hinkle said. But it is nice to get back in the routine of being in school.
One thing I have seen recently is we have been practicing better. We are learning how to win.
Tucker Linder said he hopes the team is finally ready to improve upon its 4-4 record.
We should be better in the Suburban League. We started off the year real well, then we seemed to get lackadaisical, said Linder, who scored eight points.
Hinkle saw something he believes is a key to future success.
This was not our best-played game, but as far as the eight guys in our rotation goes, they dramatically contributed to our success tonight. We could look at each other, and know we made mistakes but we hung together, Hinkle said. We all did not bring our A game, but they all made plays that contributed to the outcome.
In the third quarter, the Blue Devils clicked both inside and outside for a 21-9 advantage and a 43-32 lead. Tallmadge got 3-point shots from Eli Baker, Bryon Cook and Michael Strand and Nathan Jackson and Jacob Wood combined for six points inside.
Wood came off the bench to score 10 points and Jackson had eight points using their height advantage over the smaller Black Tigers.
We started to get the ball inside to our big players [Jackson and Wood] and playing to our strengths, Hinkle said.
We need to be more aggressive in going to the basket, Linder said.
Anthony Gotto was one of the unsung heroes for the Blue Devils, scoring 12 points and making sure the offense ran smoothly in the second half.
Baker and Strand each finished with eight points.
The Black Tigers went ahead 13-2 in the first quarter led by Jacob Slones seven points, including a 3-point field goal, but never built any momentum from that point on.
The Blue Devils cut the lead to 15-8 by the end of the first quarter and trailed 23-22 at halftime with seven different players scoring.
At the end of the first half, we were tentative on offense and complacent and hesitant on defense, Hinkle said.
For Cuyahoga Falls and coach Rob Slone, it was a night of second-half frustration, missing layups and short shots and simply not making any shots in the second half from the outside except for Ricker with two 3-pointers and Devin Speicher, who scored six of his nine points in the fourth quarter.
The Black Tigers (2-4) were led in scoring by Josh Ricker with 13 points and Jacob Slone with 10 points.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Varsity. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Walsh Jesuit 54, Garfield 49: Warriors hold off Golden Rams
Walsh Jesuit and Garfield had to wait before taking the floor to warm up because there was blood on the ground that had to be cleaned up from the junior varsity game.
It was a precursor of what was to come.
The Warriors finally wrestled away from the Golden Rams (2-6) in the last two minutes and pulled out a 54-49 road victory Friday night at the Martin O. Chapman Gymnasium.
It was just the kind of game the Warriors senior forward, Antoine Smith, thrives on.
I love physical games, but thats just me. I like contact, said Smith, who scored eight points I was a little tired running up and down the court over and over again. Everyone was tired at the end.
Were on the road, [we] did not play as good as we can, but pulled out the win.
Spencer Boyd of the Warriors, who shared team scoring honors with Nick Foschia with nine points, said the team showed it can win ugly games.
We do not want to be the weaker team. We always play Akron City teams tough and neither team was backing down, Boyd said. It shows that we were able to finish, just like we did in the fourth quarter of the CVCA game.
Garfield coach Harold Ickes said the Rams defensively did what they wanted.
We worked hard on fronting the post after watching them play Ellet Tuesday night. I could not ask for more from them defensively. We just needed to knock down a few shots, Ickes said. Shot selection has been the issue with us all season.
Garfields Jorden Boykin tied the score at 45-45 with 2:20 left in the fourth quarter with a jumper, but the Warriors went on a 9-4 run to finish the game, seven of those points coming at the foul line, where Walsh had struggled.
The Warriors regained the lead, 47-45, and kept it for good on a turnaround shot from the left baseline by Foschia with 1:23 remaining.
After Deon Lewis split two free throws, Trent Donald made 4-of-6 foul shots and Henry Trimpe made two with 15 seconds left to finally put the game out of reach.
The Warriors were just 16-of-36 from the foul line and Garfield was 14-of-26.
We can control that. We are not making excuses we need to make free throws to win a game like this, Walsh coach John Norris said. It was a great team win and we had foul trouble and had to go to our bench early.
The bench was depleted because K.C. Meyer was attending his sisters wedding and Kevin Keller twisted his ankle at practice.
The Warriors (6-1) simply went deeper into the bench and had nine different players score with no one in double figures. Noah Kaim and Carmen Sabella played quality minutes for the Warriors.
The Rams recovered from a 24-19 halftime deficit to take a 37-35 lead after three quarters with their defense frustrating the Warriors.
Even when we were down, we did not panic and stayed strong, Boyd said. We like to play tough at the end. There is no one word to describe us.
Boykin led the Rams with 19 points and Dezmond Love had eight points, Brelyn Brewton six, and Darius Hoisten and Deon Lewis each had five.
Ickes said his teams record is not indicative its talent.
Anybody who looks at a 2-6 record probably thinks we are not very good, but we showed we are not that bad tonight, Ickes said.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Varsity. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Cuyahoga Falls 55, Hudson 54: Black Tigers edge Explorers
HUDSON: Cuyahoga Falls junior guard Devin Speicher faced a moment to win a game Tuesday night. He made it happen.
Speicher made a running layup to his right with 2.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to lift visiting Cuyahoga Falls to a 55-54 victory over Hudson at Ray Buck Hyser Gymnasium.
I saw an open lane and I drove to the basket, Speicher said. I was pretty confident the shot would go in and it did.
Speicher finished with 12 points for the Black Tigers (2-2, 1-1 Northeast Ohio Conference River Division).
I figured if I could get Devin in open space and get him a ball screen he could make something happen, Falls coach Rob Slone said. The screen was going to come from the left, but he read the play and had an opening to his right. I knew they would have to make a choice and he could either take it to the rack or pass it to a teammate and get a wide-open 3.
He is a very instinctive kid. It is a lot easier to coach when you have one of those running your point.
Hudson junior forward Alex Mushock made two free throws with 21.8 seconds to go to give the Explorers (3-3, 0-2) a 54-53 lead prior to Speichers shot.
Speicher made a great play to win the game, Hudson coach Jeff Brink said. That was a big-time take.
Falls senior guard Cory Asbury scored a game-high 18 points, including three 3-pointers.
It is huge to win this game, Asbury said. We should have had a couple more wins. We work hard and I am happy with my team.
Hudson junior guards Alex Albright and Zack Brandy both reached double figures with 17 points and 16 points, respectively.
It is hard to come to Hudson and win ever, Slone said. Those kids are scrappy, they come after you and play very hard.
Hudson trailed 16-3 with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter, but put together a 22-5 run to lead 25-21 with under two minutes to go in the second quarter.
The Explorers held a 27-25 advantage at halftime, but the Black Tigers rallied and led 41-38 after three quarters.
You have to give Falls credit, they came out and blew our doors off in the first quarter, Brink said. We came back and played better in the second quarter and led at halftime, but we missed too many shots and free throws in this game.
Hudson made 17-of-63 field goals and 12-of-21 free throws. The Explorers converted 8-of-34 3-pointers.
Mushock finished with nine points and seven rebounds.
Falls made 20-of-40 field goals and 7-of-12 free throws. The Black Tigers made 8-of-18 3-pointers.
Sophomore guards Joshua Ricker and Jay Slone combined for 13 points, and Ricker grabbed nine rebounds.
This was two evenly matched teams, Brink said. Neither team shot well. I thought Albright provided a huge spark off the bench for us. That got us back into the game. And that was something we needed with [junior forward] Ben Gedeon in foul trouble. That hurt us. Zack is also a key player for us. He has been clutch all year.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Varsity. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
St. Ignatius vs. Whitmer live blog tonight
Join our live in-game blog for updates, analysis and to talk about the Division I state semifinal tonight.
