Mansfield Christian falls to Danbury in OHSAA district semifinal girls basketball
WILLARD — Thursday night did not go as planned for Mansfield Christian coach Megan Young and her Flames in a 44-35 loss to Danbury in the first Division IV district semifinal of the night at Willard High School.
First, the team had to deal with illness as Reagan Standridge, Alexis Rippel and Abby Little were all just getting over the flu.
"Unfortunately three of our starters (are dealing with) the flu, so we were playing gassed and I had to sub more than I'm used to with my starters," Young said. "That affected chemistry a little bit. But I'm just proud of them giving their best."
Then the Flames struggled from the free-throw line, going 8 of 20 in the game.
"Normally Kyleah (Jones) knocks them in," Young said. "Raegan is 77%; she's usually pretty good."
And on top of that, Danbury's Kamil Stephens hit a three 3-pointers in the first quarter and another in the second. Young even implemented a different defensive scheme to try to counter that, but good shooters are always going to find ways to score.
"We introduced a 1-3-1 half-court this week because we knew they had two really good outside shooters. We wanted to put some pressure and get some traps going," Young said. "(Stephens) can shoot really well. Her and (Maria Maringer) were the two we knew we needed to keep an eye on. They were really good about getting them the ball fast before we could get to them."
But, still, the game was never out of reach for Mansfield Christian. After trailing 14-4 at the end of one quarter, the Flames narrowed the margin slightly and were behind 25-16 at halftime.
Then Jones took over the game. At halftime she had five rebounds and one steal, but in the second half she exploded for nine points and 14 rebounds — 11 of them on the offensive end. That allowed Standridge, Noelle Beare, Rippel and Zy Davis chances to mount a comeback.
And they looked well on their way winning when they cut the Lakers' lead to 31-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
"We knew we had to be on the boards against this team because they're a really good team, especially with their put-backs," Young said. "We had to make sure we got a body on someone and boxing out. Our goal was to work Kyleah in, and we started doing a good job of that in the second half. Wish we would've done it more in the first half. And if we made our free throws."
It stayed a three-point game early in the fourth before Danbury's offense started to click again and shots began to fall.
"I think we got a little nervous there when they started to get points back on the board," Young said. "And we weren't able to execute on offense the way we needed to."
Jones led with nine points and 19 rebounds, followed by Davis (eight points), Beare (seven points, seven rebounds), Rippel (six points) and Standridge (five points, 11 rebounds).
"Kyleah and Alexis were both injured for a while, Kyleah six games and Alexis for seven," Young said. "To have two of our top scorers and rebounders out for a crucial part of the season, it hurt our record. We anticipated at least two losses this season with Loudonville in our conference. But getting the freshmen some playing time is going to help us in the long run.
"We're still playing in the Christian tournament next weekend so we have more games to play. It wasn't the last one for these seniors."
That made the postgame chat a little easier for Young knowing the Flames had at least one game to play with the Ohio Christian School Athletic Association semifinals slated for next Friday. With a win they would play for another OCSAA championship the following day.
"It's not as bittersweet yet because it's not the last game for these seniors," Young said. "Alexis I've coached since sixth grade, same with Kyleah. Once those two graduate it'll be the last I coached in junior high.
"I've been with them for a while. They'll be missed."
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Mansfield Christian falls to Danbury in OHSAA girls district semifinal
