Dublin Coffman, Marysville, Pickerington Central, Westerville South win district titles
The first of four Division I girls basketball district finals Saturday at Ohio Dominican also was the most competitive.
Westerville South withstood an Olentangy Liberty rally and held off the Patriots 50-40 for its first district championship under fourth-year coach Jermaine Guice. The Wildcats won district in 2018 and 2019.
“It’s hard to win a district (title),” Guice said. “Central Ohio has a lot of talent. Every year it seems like another team is stepping up and getting there. ... It’s hard to get to this moment and it’s hard to take that next step, so it feels good to finally be able to take that next step and get that win.”
South (24-2) will face Marysville in a regional semifinal at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Westerville North. The regional semifinals and final originally were scheduled for South but were moved because the Wildcats advanced.
The final is 7 p.m. Friday at North.
Fifth-seeded South opened a 30-19 lead late in the third quarter before third-seeded Liberty trimmed its deficit to 34-32 early in the fourth on back-to-back 3-pointers from Gigi Bower.
Trailing 37-32, Liberty (23-3) saw its comeback hopes damaged when Bower was ejected after receiving two technical fouls. South connected on four of six ensuing free throws to make it 41-32.
Tamara Ortiz led the Wildcats with 15 points, followed by Deziah Dupree and Zoe Guice with 12 apiece. Dupree started in place of freshman guard Arianna Cradle, who suffered a left knee injury in a 61-41 district semifinal win over Teays Valley on Wednesday.
Emma Karagheuzoff led Liberty with 14 points and Claire Mikola added 11.
Marysville earns first district championship
After losing in district finals each of the past two seasons, second-seeded Marysville earned its first title by beating seventh-seeded and defending state champion Reynoldsburg 55-35.
The Monarchs (24-2) led 31-19 at halftime. JoJo Eberhart and Addy Tweed scored 13 points apiece and Ava Wilkerson added 10.
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“This is phenomenal,” Marysville coach Klarke Ransome said. “All credit to the girls. They deserve every bit of this. They’ve worked extremely hard. They wanted it more than ever. Their hard work has paid off and it’s all credit to them.”
Daniya McDonald scored 16 points for Reynoldsburg (19-7).
Coffman captures third consecutive district title
Fourth-seeded Coffman hit 16 3-pointers while defeating seventh-seeded Grove City 60-30 for its third district title in a row.
The Shamrocks, who took control with a 29-0 run that began late in the second quarter, will face Pickerington Central in a regional semifinal at 8 p.m. Tuesday at North. Coffman defeated Central 53-41 in a regional semifinal last season.
Ava Collins and Jenna Kopyar led the Shamrocks (20-5) with 17 points apiece and Tessa Grady scored 14.
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“We found a little bit of a rhythm about midway through the first quarter into the second quarter,” Coffman coach Adam Banks said. “We started moving the ball a little more crisply. It led to some good spot rhythm (3-pointers). We got it going that way.”
Grove City (21-5) trailed 18-12 midway through the second quarter when senior point guard Olivia Keeney was lost for the game with a left knee injury. She finished with a team-high eight points.
Pickerington Central continues domination at district level
Top-seeded Central captured its eighth consecutive district title, beating 12th-seeded Dresden Tri-Valley 63-30 in the final game of the day.
Berry Wallace led Central (22-4) with 23 points and Olivia Cooper scored 12.
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“We started slowly,” said Central coach Chris Wallace, whose team led 26-16 at halftime. “I wouldn’t say it was our best effort of the year in the first half. It was a little sloppy (and we took too many) quick shots. We needed to be a little more patient and we ended up getting better looks.”
Lexi Howe led Tri-Valley (19-7) with 11 points.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Which Columbus-area girls basketball teams won district titles?
