A dish best served cold: Clear Fork cancels Shelby's MOAC celebration with revenge win

BELLVILLE — The table appeared as if it were set for Shelby to walk away with at least a share of the MOAC title as they headed to the valley.

After the three-way tie for first was shattered last Friday when Shelby knocked off River Valley (40-38) and Ontario upset Pleasant (29-27), the road was paved for the Whippets to at least clinch a share of the title against a team they had beaten once already.

However, in their last home game of the season, the Clear Fork Colts were prepared to throw a wrench in Shelby’s plan and captured a marquee win with the Division III tournament right around the corner. Clear Fork held on to defeat the Whippets in a nail-biting finish 53-51.

“We haven’t been super dominant. This has been their league for a while and we were pretty devastated about the two-point loss (earlier in the season),” said junior guard Annika Labaki. “We knew they were coming for an outright league title so we just wanted to take that away at least.”

Labaki, who led the Colts with 14 points, did not waste any time getting her squad rolling, quickly knocking down two deep three-pointers. Known for having a deep bench this season, Clear Fork quickly rotated a number of players in to keep pace with Shelby’s up-tempo pace of play. The Colts were quickly able to spread the wealth with five players recording points in the first quarter alone.

Clear Fork coach Scott Sellers noted how Labaki’s work ethic translates to her success on the court saying, “she shoots about a hundred-thousand shot in the offseason despite being a second-team all-Ohio soccer player. She’s in the weight room from April to the end of July, three days a week - she’s put in the work to allow herself to be in that position and I trust her 100%; she was able to go out and perform like she has been for the past month.”

Labaki complimented her coach’s attitude and noted how Sellers instills confidence in his team to get more players involved on the offensive end.

“I think we do a pretty good job of being selfless and distributing the ball well. We have a bunch of three-point shooters but coach Sellers gives us confidence and tells us to shoot when you’re open, don’t think about it, and I honestly think that helps a lot for us,” said Labaki.

However, Clear Fork struggled to handle the ball against the intense defensive pressure from the Whippets, quickly committing six turnovers. Sophomore guards Eve Schwemley, who had a game-high of 19 points, and Trinity Baker both displayed tremendous on-the-ball defense, each snagging a steal and scoring in transition.

Senior guard Demi Hipp also showed her range beyond the arc, nailing a three-pointer to help keep pace as they trailed the Colts 15-14 at the end of the first.

“When they pressured us like that, our kids have been in this spot a couple of times this year now where we’ve played elite teams and we’ve played them tough,” said Sellers. “Shelby’s going to pressure everybody - and it’s very hard to withstand. Luckily for us we were able to do just enough and get a win.”

Needing a jolt of energy to help quiet a roaring Clear Fork crowd, the Whippets relied on senior forward Audi Albert for the jumpstart they needed. Running in transition, Albert penetrated into the paint, drew a foul and knocked down both free throws. On the next possession, Albert was fouled again and connected on both shots to give Shelby their first lead of the night at the 4:43 mark.

Clear Fork quickly responded, however, going on an 11-point run to regain the lead and started to pull away. Senior Lauryn Robinson knocked down a bank-in three-pointer from the wing and freshman forward Brinley Barnett scored in transition on back-to-back possessions. The Colts’ momentum was quickly stopped right before the half though after Hipp dribbled to halfcourt just as time was expiring and sunk a buzzer-beating three to keep their deficit to just 28-21 at the half.

Coming out of the break, the Whippets were beginning to adjust to the 2-3 zone that had been giving them issues prior. Shelby outscored the Colts 13-11 and was led by Schwemley. After connecting on two foul shots, she nailed a deep three-pointer on the next possession. With a stellar post move underneath the rim, she finished on a tough layup over Clear Fork defenders to cut their deficit to just five points going into the final quarter.

“You can see how hard [Eve] fights and she’s going to be a heck of a ball player,” said Shelby coach Natalie Lantz. “Quite frankly she just works. I don’t know if anybody outworks her on the court in any game - any team.”

Unfortunately for the Whippets, Hipp was injured during the quarter and did not return for the remainder of the game.

Heading into the final quarter, it looked as if Shelby was going to mount another comeback as we have seen so often this season. Schwemley started the rally with an outstanding and-one layup and made the following free throw. Implementing a suffocating press, Shelby quickly forced Clear Fork into turning the ball over, capitalizing on the other end and tying the game at 42 with 4:52 remaining. Once again Schwemley found the bottom of the net on a three-pointer to retake the lead.

However, Shelby’s momentum was abruptly stopped on a three-pointer from Labaki. To make matters worse for Shelby, Schwemley was called for a foul after running into a screen during the shot. After a pause in the action to discuss, the referees awarded the Colts the three points and sent junior Kylie Belcher to the line to shoot additional free throws which she knocked in the front end.

“I don’t know how you push through a screen that happened before a shot and they get the three-point shot and they get the foul,” said Lantz. “That’s a [four] point swing. I think that’s terrible, but it is what it is - I’ll be interested to watch the film.”

With just under a minute remaining, Schwemley once again pulled through for the Whippets, penetrating into the paint and scoring off a great post move to cut the deficit to two points. Junior guard Charlie Niese nabbed a steal on the inbounds from Clear Fork but could not finish at the rim to tie the game.

The Colts threw an outlet pass to senior Lyvia Davis who was fouled on a questionable blocking call on the sideline as she attempted to dribble through the press. In the double-bonus, Davis made both foul shots to go up four points.

“There were inconsistencies and I thought we got hit pretty good on shots towards the end where there were no calls,” said Lantz. “I would like to see if you start calling a certain way, it has to be that way for the entire game and not let it go.”

However, the Whippets quickly scored and forced another turnover in the backcourt with seven seconds remaining and Lantz quickly called a timeout. Unfortunately, Shelby was unable to get a shot off for a chance to tie the game after sophomore Mel Blubaugh picked off a final pass as the clock expired.

“Shelby is such a special team. They were playing for [first place] outright; they’re still going to get a share and get their fifth assuming they take care of business next week which I expect them to,” said Sellers. “For us, it’s just a really good win against a team that we have not had a lot of success against. That’s off to them: they played incredibly hard. We were able to withstand it and this time it went our way and I’m really thankful for it.”

Even with the loss on the road, Lantz noted her team’s ability to battle through adversity, especially with injuries saying, “I’m proud of the way we played the entire second half without Demi Hipp and Audi and foul trouble, [Trinity] had an off game shooting. I think Eve played hard and Sarah Riser gave us a boost, but I really think we beat ourselves tonight.”

Although the Colts are out of contention for a share of the MOAC title, Sellers noted that the win is a confidence builder heading into the tournament saying, “it’s a building block for us as a program. You play the teams that give you challenges. We picked up Bellevue, Mansfield Senior, and West Holmes this year. I tell the kids that we lost all three games, but - they get you ready to play big-time games like this. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way but I know that you watch things and learn things from those real competitive games that help you. That’s who we want to be as a program.”

Labaki echoed her coach saying, “we really feed off the energy so it’s really important for us to have a game like this knowing that this is what the tournament environment is going to be like for us so it’s good practice for what we’re going to see in the tournament.”

Lantz also ended the night with a positive note as Shelby looks to regroup and capture a share of their fifth straight MOAC title next week against Ontario saying, “with the year we’ve had and the injuries we’ve had it’s amazing. You look back and River Valley and Clear Fork were both to win over us and look where we are. I’m really proud of our girls and the adversity we’ve fought through. We’ve found a way when we aren’t hitting shots to be in the game at the end and that’s all we can do.”

On the night, the Colts had eight players score with three in double-digits. Behind Labaki, senior Lilly Wortman had 13 points. Barnett followed closely behind with 11. Lyvia Davis and senior Pacey Chrastina also contributed four points each.

Outside of Schwemley’s 19 points, the Whippets had seven other players contribute as well. Albert netted 11 points followed by Sarah Reiser with eight. Hipp connected on two threes and ended the night with six.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Clear Fork Colts beat Shelby Whippets in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference girls basketball