COLUMBUS – For 16 minutes Saturday night Kettering Fairmont was in total control. The insanely young Firebirds led nationally ranked Twinsburg by seven points after two quarters and looked like a team capable of shocking the world. Then the buzzer sounded and the second half started.
Roaring back with a 17-6 third quarter that eventually propelled it a 55-42 victory and the Division I girls basketball state title, Twinsburg completed the season as the only undefeated girls basketball team in the state (26-0) and handed coach Julie Solis her first D-I state title in two tries before a crowd of 4,386 inside Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center. Solis led Solon to the 2006 D-I title game where the Comets lost to Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame by double-digits. This one was way closer.
Fairmont, with two freshmen and two sophomores in the starting line-up and only one upperclassmen on its 10-woman roster, followed up its impressive semifinal win over Toledo Start by taking command with a 16-9 second quarter.
Led by the play of freshmen Kathryn Westbeld (15 points and 11 rebounds) and Makayla Waterman (13 points), the Firebirds led 26-19 at halftime and were 16 minutes away from earning the school’s first state title. Twinsburg was just too much in the second half.
Sensational junior Malina Howard led Twinsburg back by scoring 11 of her game-high 20 points in the third and fourth quarters and she got enough help from her teammates to stave off the Firebirds whose defensive pressure continued to keep them in the game.
Fairmont closed to within 46-42 with 3:02 left but didn’t score again.
Junior Katie Fox added 14 points for Twinsburg, nine of which came from the free throw line, and classmate Leah Fechko had 11.
*Player of the Game: Malina Howard, Jr., Twinsburg – The nationally ranked junior prospect added 11 rebounds in the win. It was her second double-double of the state tournament. She had 19 points and 13 rebounds in Friday’s semifinal win over Pickerington North.
*Stat of the Game: The Tigers scored 36 second half points after scoring just 19 in the first half. Twinsburg had 19 in the fourth quarter alone.
Division I JJHuddle All-Tournament Team
Malina Howard, Sr., Twinsburg (Player of the Tournament)
Kathryn Westbeld, Fr., Fairmont
Makayla Waterman, Fr., Fairmont
Maleeka Kynard, Sr., Toledo Start
Kavunaa Edwards, Sr., Pickerington North
JJHuddle All-Ohio Teams (Coming the first week of April)
The first annual JJHuddle All-Ohio Girls Basketball Teams will be announced the week of April 4. The teams will feature five-player first, second and third teams and will have a 10-player honorable mention. The teams will encompass all divisions and will be selected by a media panel that includes the best in the business: Tom Jenkins (Ohio Girls Basketball Report), Mark Lewis (ESPN HoopGurlz) and Dan Olson (Collegiate Girls Basketball Report).
