'We’re capable of doing some special things': Tusky Valley girls basketball ready for OHSAA tournament
NEW PHILADELPHIA — Tusky Valley’s girls basketball team got in its final tuneup before what it hopes will be a long tournament run by toppling New Philadelphia 50-36 in both squad’s regular-season finales Wednesday night on the Quakers’ home floor.
With the win, the Trojans, who are the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Division III tournament, improved to 18-4 on the season. Tusky Valley returned a veteran team from last season that advanced to the district final, losing to Union Local, which later advanced to the state tournament.
“We have a week to think about it and prepare for our first tournament game against Beaver Local, and I know it's cliche, but it’s one at a time,” said Tusky Valley head coach Matt Ward. “Listen, if this team plays the right way, I think we’re capable of doing some special things. I’m not going to hide from that, but we definitely have some tough opponents in front of us.”
With the setback, New Philadelphia, which is the No. 6 seed in the upcoming D2 tourney, is 10-10.
“It was a good game, they (the Trojans) are the No. 2 seed in the East district, so it gives us good prep that we can use for a week to get ready for the tournament,” said New Philadelphia head coach Kevin Cornell.
Leading Tusky Valley was junior Locie Levengood, who scored 19 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 night at the foul line. Teammate Leah Bourquin added 14 points and Kaleigh Norris finished with nine points.
“It (the win) feels great,” said Levengood. “I’m just really proud of my team — they all really stepped up.”
“We played at a fast tempo and we did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball,” stated Ward.
Pacing New Philadelphia was Jazzee Barker with nine points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while teammates Tori Kaiser and Carys Young finished with seven and five points, respectively.
Leading 25-20 at halftime, Tusky Valley got the separation it needed with a 13-0 run to start the third quarter. The Trojans forced seven turnovers out of the Quakers in the stanza, with several of those miscues ending up in fast break points for the visitors.
“That (the 13-0 run) was really big,” stated Levengood. “Everyone stepped up, I felt. It was good.”
“We feel pretty good defensively in what we do and our girls played very hard on that end of the floor,” lauded Ward. “We also got out and ran in transition and just forced them (the Quakers) into some uncomfortable spots.”
Tusky Valley’s defense held the Quakers without a point for the first 6:01 of the third quarter while taking their largest lead of the night at 18 points (38-20).
“We’ve played really strong in the second half, especially this last quarter of the season,” praised Ward. “We felt good coming out of halftime to kind of set the tone and do what we wanted to do, and we did that.”
New Philadelphia’s Cornell agreed Tusky’s third-quarter run was a key to the outcome.
“We put ourselves in the situation where they scored the last four to end the first half and the first 13 of (the third quarter) and we have to match their physicality,” observed Cornell. “If the refs aren’t going to call anything, we have to match (physicality) and Tusky Valley did a good job of that.”
New Philadelphia came back to cut the deficit to 15 (38-23) after three and had a run of its own to trim the margin to eight points (44-36) following a corner trey by Barker with 3:44 remaining in the game. But the Trojans responded by outscoring the Quakers 6-0 in the remaining time to secure the 14-point triumph.
“We got it within eight and had a wide-open three from a really good shooter that would have cut it to five,” said Cornell. “We have to build off that fourth quarter and get ready for the tournament. We’re excited to go compete.”
In a tight first half in which there were six different team lead changes, New Philadelphia forged a 14-13 lead after one as Barker had six first-quarter points for the Quakers on a pair of three-pointers.
Tusky Valley, led by Levengood, who had 10 points in the first half, and Bourquin, who had nine in the opening 16 minutes, took its largest lead of the half at five points (25-20) after Bourquin drained a pair of free throws with 0.2 seconds showing.
More:Wednesday's Tuscarawas County-area high school sports results
The No. 6-seeded Quakers will play at No. 5 seed Steubenville in a Division II sectional tournament game Wednesday at 7 p.m.
No. 2 seed Tusky Valley will host No. 16 seed Beaver Local in a Division III sectional tourney contest Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Tusky Valley won the junior varsity game by a 44-19 final. Maleah Dillon led the Trojans with 11 points. Cecilia Espenshied paced the Quakers with 11 points.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Locie Levengood leads Tusky Valley girls basketball to win
