Riverside, Triad advance to sectional finals
By Tim Langevin
The 29th Girls Division IV Sidney Sectionals…
The saga continues, where the victories are fleeting and the defeats never sleep, but that’s the cruel intentions of tournament basketball–”Fair is foul and foul is fair” (Shakespeare).
For Riverside and Triad, the journey is still alive. For Houston and Jackson Center, it will be a restless night.
Riverside 61, Houston 58
The Lady Pirates breezed to an 18-8 first quarter lead. Amelia Carter looked anxious to score her 1,000th point as she led the attack with eight tallies on nifty inside post moves.
Jaclyn Willoughby, a 1,000-point scorer herself, scored all eight of Houston’s points with a three-pointer, an inside score, and three free throws.
“What can you say about Willoughby,” Riverside coach Dean Sanford praised. “She does it all for her team. She is one heck’uva ball player.”
The Houston defense made adjustments on Carter to start the second stanza and held the 5′ 11″ senior to two points. Meanwhile, Willoughby continued her assault on the Riverside defense with eight more points and the Lady Wildcats only trailed 25-23 at the intermission.
Allison Roeth helped the Wildcat cause with seven points, including a long-range three as Houston outscored Riverside 15-7.
Roeth picked up where she left off in the third quarter with another five points and Houston led 42-39 at quarter’s end. The sophomore forward finished the night with 10 points.
Carter canned two free throws to give her 1,001 points for her career midway through the third.
Coach Sanford commented, “You knew she’d be a great player. Very hard working and unselfish. She worked during the off season. Lifted weights. Spent time shooting and working on her footwork. Worked on all her skills. She deserves it.”
He added, “What people don’t realize, she started the season with 629 points. That means she had to score almost 400 points this season.”
The fourth quarter was a nerve-racking, pressure-cooker. Houston maintained a slim three to four point lead for about four minutes before Erica Snapp knotted the score 50-50 on an inside stick back.
The junior forward wasn’t finished. Snapp scored again on two foul shots and again on a baseline drive to push Riverside ahead 54-50 with 2:56 left in the contest. The 5′ 7″ forward ended the game with 14 points, including 4-of-4 from the line in the pivotal final quarter.
“That stretch by Erica was the key to the game,” Sanford stressed. “She made great decisions when she attacked the baseline.”
The Lady Pirates built the margin 58-53 on an Abby Heaberlin stick back with 52.6 seconds remaining. The game looked over for Houston. No game looks over with Willoughby and Danielle Monnier on the floor. Willoughby canned two free throws and Monnier swished a three, her third of the game, to knot the score 58-58 with 12.9 long seconds left.
Three seconds later, Heaberlin banged home a huge triple from the right perimeter for the dramatic win.
A despondant Houston coach Greg Ward said, “They stuck to their zone and it bothered us at times. They did a nice job of doubling-down on Willoughby. They really packed the zone. We didn’t show enough patience. We weren’t hitting the cutters. We didn’t get the job done.”
Houston finishes the season 15-7 and Riverside trucks onward with a 14-7 mark.
Willoughby and Monnier close out brilliant careers with 25 and 13 points, respectively.
Coach Ward said, “It has been a real treat, a real pleasure coaching Willoughby and Monnier. They really stepped their games up this season. They gave us a great four years. It has been a fun ride.”
Indeed, it has been a fun ride for all of us. Shelby County League Historian Bob Wise believes that this group of seniors have won the most games in school history.
Carter finished the game with 20 points. Heaberlin added 13 points, including the game-winner.
Coach Sanford concluded, “Our zone worked. The first time we played each other, we went man. That didn’t work. This time we had someone on Willoughby at all times. We took Monnier out of her game by post-side fronting her and keeping Carter behind her. I think Monnier got frustrated.”
He continued, “We weren’t gonna come out of our zone defense. We stuck to the game plan and it worked.”
For the second straight year, Riverside advances to the sectional final.
Triad 40, Jackson Center 34
As expected, this game was a see-saw, up and down defensive struggle with nine lead changes and two ties. The score was dead-locked at 6-6 after one period. Jackson Center led 15-14 at half. Triad took the third quarter lead 27-26.
The big difference, though, was the final quarter where Triad out-pointed Jackson Center 13-8 by draining 7-of-10 free throws. The Lady Tigers never made it to the charity stripe.
The slow tempo favored the much smaller Lady Tigers’ five-guard offense. Taylor Cummons triggered the first half scoring with six points. Mackenzie May chipped in with four points.
Triad countered with post players Marrissa Millice and Machelle Tyler working the inside. Millice scored six and Tyler added two. Hannah Smith scored four from the outside.
The biggest lead of the game belonged to Triad when Addie Dixon nailed a three-pointer to give the Cardinals a 27-19 lead midway through the third period.
However, Jackson Center responded with a 7-0 run to finish the quarter, only trailing 27-26. May scored inside, Kristen Winemiller made a steal and scored the lay up, and then May capped it off with a three-point-play in the paint.
Jackson Center took the lead 30-27 to start the fourth quarter on a Winemiller floater down the lane. Rebecca Levings countered with a post move to cut the gap 30-29.
Triad called time out with 1:58 left. During the time out, Kelsey Funderburgh must have changed into her Superman costume because she scored eight unanswered points in less than 58 seconds to provide the Cards with a 37-30 lead with less than a minute remaining to seal the deal.
“That was key,” Triad coach Jason Malone said. “The steal, the transition basket, and then the three-point-play. It’s nice to have a guard that can handle the ball so well.”
Funderburgh led Triad with 10 points. Millice added eight points and Dixon and Smith each scored seven points.
Coach Malone said, “It was a great game. A lot of back and forth strategy. You have to be on your toes coaching against Gooding.” He continued, “We have been in close games all season. We are used to grinding it out. That’s why we didn’t panic and we pulled it out. We’ve been there.”
The Lady Cardinals improve to 16-5 and battle Riverside. Jackson Center drops to 11-10.
And so, after nine grueling games, the stage is set for a pair of sectional finals Saturday. Russia plays Fort Loramie at noon and Riverside battles Triad at 1:45 pm.
Get Excited Sports Rockers. The Bee Hive will be swarming.
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