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Wilson leads Lady Zs with 9, but Lady Eagles’ 11-0 run in 3rd quarter decisive
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Ella McCarter Rylee Clevenger Audrey Bolinger
WALTON — Smothering the Rochester girls basketball team with their size, length and in-your-face man-to-man defense, the Oak Hill girls basketball team beat Rochester 39-21 in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 semifinal at Lewis Cass Friday.
Aubrey Wilson led Rochester (16-7) with nine points, and Rylee Clevenger hit a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for six. Ella McCarter scored all four of her points in the first quarter, and Audrey Bolinger had two.
Clevenger, McCarter and Bolinger are the team’s three seniors.
Freshman reserve post player Brianna Dailey and senior wing Alexa Myers had eight points each for No. 15 Oak Hill, who improved to 22-2. Erika Newhouse added seven.
Oak Hill will play Lewis Cass (18-6) in the sectional final at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Lewis Cass handled Manchester 37-26 in the first semifinal.
Oak Hill made only one 3-pointer, a running 25-foot banker from Kora Pond in the final seconds of the third quarter, but they made 18 of 31 free throws. By contrast, Rochester was four for six from the line.
Wilson was the only Rochester player to attempt a free throw.
Rochester was called for 24 fouls while Oak Hill was whistled for nine. Audrey Bolinger and Jadyn Field both fouled out for Rochester.
Oak Hill had only one field goal in the fourth quarter – it came on a high-low layup from Dailey off a Morgan Cates assist that Dailey subsequently turned into a 3-point play – but that started an 8-0 run.
“There’s a reason why we were rated the number one sectional in 2A,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus said of Oak Hill. “They were a big reason for that, and they’re going to be an absolute load for a long time.”
Rochester scored the first four points of the second quarter and took their first lead at 8-7 on a Wilson free throw with 4:24 left in the half. That run included an assist from Bolinger in the post to Wilson, who cut from the weak side.
But Oak Hill scored the final five points of the half to take a 12-8 lead. That included a crucial four-point possession in which Oak Hill got two offensive rebounds off missed free throws. Dailey capped the possession with a layup off the second offensive rebound.
McCarter and Bolinger worked a screen-and-roll for a layup on the opening possession of the second half. In a game in which every basket was earned through painstaking effort, they were within 12-10.
Oak Hill then answered with an 11-0 run to close out the quarter. Myers had three mid-range buckets in the quarter, and Hardman hit a 12-footer. Then came Pond’s banked-in triple.
Meanwhile, Rochester committed only one turnover in the third quarter, but getting an open look was a bigger problem.
“They guard like a college team,” Burrus said. “Their shell is so hard to penetrate because their bigs can hedge out. They’ll hedge them on ball screens. You’ve got to do everything you can to beat your initial defender, and that’s really tough to do. Because when you beat your initial defender, what do you got coming at you as that second line of defense? They’re probably the best defensive team that we’ve seen other than Plymouth and NorthWood. … They remind me of those teams.”
Oak Hill’s starters were listed at 5-7, 5-7, 5-9, 5-9 and 5-10. Dailey and Pond, the top reserves, are 6-0 and 5-8, respectively.
Rochester’s 21 points were a season low, but this marked the 14th time in 24 games that Oak Hill has held their opponent under 30.
“I knew we would go down swinging,” Burrus said. “I knew we would fight till the end. We knew it was going to be hard to score. We knew we were going to have to shoot well. We didn’t shoot well.”
Burrus heaped praise on the seniors after the game, saying they are all “leaders” and bound for the “top of the food chain.” Since last year’s team had no seniors, they spent the last two years setting the standard. All three are three-sport athletes.
“These three have put in so much time,” Burrus said. “I can’t remember any of them missing anything, and I mean we’ve really gotten after it in the summers and the offseason – spring workouts, fall workouts. Even with them in other sports, working around those sports to just be a multi-sport athlete. But doing everything we’ve asked of them. Very coachable.”
Rochester sophomore Brailyn Hunter needed to be helped off the floor with 22.5 seconds left in the first quarter after suffering an apparent left ankle injury. She returned at the 4:46 mark of the second quarter after a trip to the trainer’s room.
Oak Hill 39, Rochester 21
ROCHESTER (21) (16-7)
Aubrey Wilson 2 4-6 9, Rylee Clevenger 2 0-0 6, Brailyn Hunter 0 0-0 0, Ella McCarter 2 0-0 4, Audrey Bolinger 1 0-0 2, Jayla Miller 0 0-0 0, Jadyn Field 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 7 4-6 21
OAK HILL (39) (22-2)
Erika Newhouse 1 5-6 7, Landri Hardman 1 3-12 5, Alexa Myers 4 0-0 8, Liz Godfrey 0 3-4 3, Morgan Cates 0 1-2 1, Lilly Edwards 0 0-0 0, Ryleigh Myers 0 2-2 2, Kora Pond 1 2-2 5, Brianna Dailey 3 2-3 8
TEAM: 10 18-31 39
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 3 (Clevenger 2, Wilson),
Oak Hill 1 (Pond)
Total fouls: Rochester 24, Oak Hill 9
Fouled out: Bolinger (RHS), 5:16, fourth; Field (RHS), 2:23, fourth
Turnovers: Rochester 13, Oak Hill 14
Score by quarters
Rochester 4 4 2 11 – 21
Oak Hill 7 5 11 16 – 39
Lewis Cass 37, Manchester 26
Mylie Sipe scored 12 of her game-high 14 points in the first half, and the Lewis Cass girls basketball team’s 2-3 zone defense held Manchester scoreless in the second quarter on their way to a 37-26 win in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 semifinal at Lewis Cass Friday.
Lewis Cass, who also beat Manchester 33-30 in their Three Rivers Conference meeting Nov. 12, improved to 18-6.
Hadley West and Molly Schanepp scored 10 points each for Manchester, who finished 9-14.
West banked in a 3-pointer just before the first quarter buzzer, but Sipe’s two 3-pointers keyed a 14-0 Lewis Cass run to build a 26-7 lead at halftime.
Lewis Cass led by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter. Manchester closed with an 8-0 run against Lewis Cass’ reserves.
Lewis Cass 37, Manchester 26
MANCHESTER (26) (9-14)
Peyton Ream 0 0-4 0, Hadley West 3 2-2 10, Emma Walker 2 0-0 4, Molly Schanepp 4 0-0 10, Hanna Stout 0 0-0 0, Ava Sautter 0 0-2 0, Olivia Stevens 0 0-0 0, Allie Egolf 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 10 2-8 26
LEWIS CASS (37) (18-6)
Ava Hubner 1 1-2 3, Anna Hedrick 2 1-2 5, Aftin Griffin 0 5-8 5, Kylie Logan 1 0-0 2, Mylie Sipe 6 0-0 14, Laney Davis 1 3-4 5, Presley Johnson 0 1-2 1, Kiley Silcox 0 0-0 0, Hope Rush 1 0-0 2, Madalyn Lynch 0 0-0 0, Lilly Hammond 0 0-0 0, Lexi Gotshall 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 12 11-18 37
Three-point field goals:
Manchester 4 (West 2, Schanepp 2),
Lewis Cass 2 (Sipe 2)
Total fouls: Manchester 18, Lewis Cass 15
Fouled out: West (MAN), 3:09, fourth; Ream (MAN), 1:09, fourth
Turnovers: Manchester 12, Lewis Cass 18
Score by quarters
Manchester 7 0 6 13 – 26
Lewis Cass 12 14 6 5 – 37
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