Bexley ends North Union's girls basketball tournament run in district final
BEXLEY — There are steps to be taken and levels earned over the course of a high school basketball career.
For senior-laden Bexley, they were ready to become champions. For a young North Union squad, the Wildcats are learning,
The Lions handled North Union 49-35 to win its first district championship since 2004 during a Division II title game Saturday at Capital University.
"They’ve won 11, 14, 19 and now it’s 23," Bexley girls basketball coach Bryce Baugh said, referring to their win totals over the last four seasons. "That’s a lot of wins and a lot of experience and not only in basketball. We not only have good athletes; we’ve got great people, and we have winners because they’ve won at everything they do and not just basketball."
Bexley's Sofia Sheridan was a mainstay on the girls soccer team that went to the Final Four. Sydnie Smith, the niece of Ohio State legend Katie Smith, is a major college recruit as a weight thrower in track and field. Mikayla Williams is going to the Naval Academy to play lacrosse. Madison Ingram was a major player on the volleyball team's run to the district finals this fall.
The fact that the third-seeded Lions (23-3) played with poise and moxie throughout Saturday's high-stakes district final wasn't surprising.
"We’re young. We really are," North Union coach Bre Jackson said. "We’re immature in ways on the floor, and they’re a very mature team. Four of their best players are seniors and they’re going places for other sports to the next level, too. They play with passion. They play with fire. They play for each other, and we’re learning how to do that. We were back on our heels a little bit, but my kids don’t give up."
In the first four minutes of the game, NU's Zoe Wedding dropped a pair of 3-pointers to send her team to a 6-3 lead, But Bexley responded with a 6-0 run in less than two minutes and went into the second period with an 11-7 lead.
An Allison Price drive cut the lead to 11-9, but the second-seeded Wildcats (22-3) would get no closer the rest of the day.
Smith simply took over for Bexley. She nailed a pair of 3-pointers, plus converted a 3-point play off a baseline drive and added two more free throws for 11 of her team's 17 points in the quarter, helping the Lions to a 28-21 halftime lead.
"We don’t see that type of physicality much in our league. They are a strong Central District school," Jackson said.
Smith started off where she left off with a 3-point play off another drive early in the third quarter, and with 5:41 left in the period, she made two more free throws for her 18th point of the day. She did all this while playing with three fouls.
Then with 1:12 left in the third quarter, North Union drew a charge on Smith with the score at 37-28, finally sending her to the bench
"It’s probably craziness on my part because every time she’s had three fouls before, she’s picked up her fourth, but she was scoring some baskets and we’re not going to take her out right now," Baugh said of playing her with three fouls for so long. "We’re just going to ride it and see what happens."
After after the fourth, he had a conversation with Smith.
"If this stays at 10, you’re not going back in until late because if something happens crazy in the last couple minutes, I want you in the last two minutes or overtime to do something. She said she’ll do whatever it takes to win. That’s the type of girls that we have," he added.
Her teammates had it under control. When Abbey Price scored on a post up to cut the lead to 37-30 with 26 seconds left, Bexley's Reese McClellan hit a corner 3-pointer with five seconds left to bump the lead back to double figures.
Grappling with their own foul trouble, the Wildcats couldn't mount a fourth-quarter comeback against Bexley.
"We gave them 35 opportunities to shoot free throws, and we’re lucky they only shot 68 percent and not 80 percent and it would have been a bigger differential," Jackson said. "We didn’t get to the hoop. We didn’t make shots. We just really weren’t in our rhythm or groove overall. It affected us."
North Union was whistled for 23 fouls, while the Lions had just 11. Because of the discrepancy, the Wildcats were just 6 of 7 from the stripe compared to 24 of 35 for Bexley.
Still, Bexley's man-to-man defense was stifling, limiting NU to just seven 2-pointers and five baskets behind the arc, only allowing three 3-pointers over the final 28 minutes. Allison Price led the Wildcats with 13 points and Kennedy Harrah added eight. Abbey Price had six rebounds.
"Use it as a learning tool," Jackson said of her message afterward as all but Taran Moran and Hope Hall are back for the Wildcats. "If you don’t want to feel this way again, we’ve got to start working now. You’ve got to work on your individual game and grow your game. We’ve got to stay connected as much as we can in the offseason. We talk about being a good teammate and caring for your teammates and how much that can affect you on the floor. I challenged them to care and be good teammates and stay connected.
"Our word for the year has been together. I said in the offseason we still have to be together. We have to try to do those things. I think this young group that I have do care about each other. We can work on that culture aspect."
The Lions got 19 from Smith and 13 from Ingram as she also grabbed six rebounds with three steals.
"We knew this game was going to be very close and that both teams are similar," Baugh said. "We were going to try to get the ball inside and work it outside. We wanted to be better at it than they did. As the game wore on, we could feel it. Hey, we can have this. We have the confidence because we’ve played in several tight games this year and have played a tough non-league schedule. We’re used to having some knockdown drag out fights.
Bexley will now face its biggest challenge of the season when it plays defending state champion Cincinnati Purcell Marian in a regional semifinal game Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Springfield High School.
Boys Sectional Roundup
No. 3 seed Northmor took out No. 12 Berne Union 64-29 to win a Division IV boys basketball sectional championship at home Saturday night.
Ten Golden Knights scored as Jax Wenger had 14, Caleb Schnuerer 11, Drew Hammond nine and Bryson Keirns eight. Berne Union got 13 points from Nate Nemeth.
"Great game from the top down," Northmor coach Blade Tackett said. "Grant (Bentley) only had 6 (points) and Max (Lower) defended their best player and distributed well. While Jax still led us, we got huge contributions from the likes of Caleb Schnuerer, Drew Hammond, Bryson Keirns and Isaac Black. We have the depth and ability to pick each other up when some of our typical guys struggle and that could be huge here next week."
Northmor will play No. 8 seed Delaware Christian Tuesday at 7 p.m. at a district semifinal site to be determined. Delaware Christian beat No. 9 Liberty Christian 49-44 in a sectional title matchup.
Tackett credited his bench players of Cole Cuffman, Bo Landin, Logan Caudill, AJ Bower, and Griffin Healea for getting the rotation players ready for action this week.
"They watched film with me on Monday and helped build the scouter," Tackett said. "They knew all the calls and all offensive and defensive tendencies. I hope they know they have as much to do with this win as our top eight, and I’m proud of them. They will be very important if we want to continue this run. "
In another Division IV sectional final, top seeded Northside Christian beat No. 16 Ridgedale 62-45.
In Division III, No. 4 Northridge stopped No. 14 Elgin 63-34, while No. 9 Fredericktown rallied in the fourth quarter to beat No. 19 North Union 51-44., and second seed Worthington Christian defeated No. 24 Cardington 50-16.
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Bexley ends North Union's girls hoops tourney run in district final
