Marysville, Pickerington Central to meet for Division I girls basketball regional title
Playing in its first Division I regional tournament didn't seem to faze Marysville, which led from start to finish Tuesday night in a 46-38 semifinal win over Westerville South at Westerville North.
“This group is phenomenal,” Marysville coach Klarke Ransome said. “They just stay the course whether things don’t go our way or the other team makes a run. They don’t make excuses. They don’t hang their heads. They don’t look around for calls. They keep playing, they continue competing and they just continue to respond the right way.”
Leading 11-4 after one quarter, Marysville (25-2) built a 22-4 advantage midway through the second, capped by Ava Wilkerson’s three 3-pointers. The Monarchs, who led 25-9 at halftime, will play Pickerington Central in the regional final at 7 p.m. Friday at Otterbein.
“(The first-half performance was) so uncharacteristic of us,” South coach Jermaine Guice said. “I don’t know why we were pressing so much. With the veteran leaders that we have, I thought we were going to settle in a lot earlier than what we did.”
South (24-3) trimmed the deficit to 42-36 with 1:08 remaining, but couldn’t get any closer.
“We knew they would make a run,” Ransome said. “Coach Guice, his staff and their program are extremely tough. They battle like crazy, and we knew they weren’t going to go away. We talked about how we have to put together two good halves. They made a run, and we were able to respond and show some mental toughness. We stepped up and made some free throws and got stops when needed.”
Wilkerson led Marysville with 12 points and JoJo Eberhart added 11.
“We’re just so connected,” Wilkerson said. “These girls are my family, so when anything doesn’t go our way or they’re going on a run, we just know how to come together and not fight with each other. We know how to come together and respond.”
Marysville made seven 3-pointers and went 11-for-16 from the free-throw line.
Zoe Guice led South with 12 points and Tamara Ortiz had 10. The Wildcats hit just three 3s and were 7-for-15 from the foul line.
“I give credit to Marysville,” coach Guice said. “They had their game plan and came out and executed very well early. We struggled early. It’s a tough one to take.”
Pickerington Central 60, Dublin Coffman 52
Three weeks removed from a 24-point rout of the Coffman, Pickerington Central anticipated some unforeseen wrinkles in a regional semifinal rematch.
That came in the form of an effective zone defense that limited Central in the paint, but the Tigers used strong outside shooting and an effective transition game to fend off Coffman and advance to their first regional final since 2020.
“They showed a lot of man-to-man the first time we played them (a 67-43 win Feb. 7) and tonight, I am not sure we saw five possessions of man-to-man,” Central coach Chris Wallace said. “We’ve seen a lot of zone this year and you just have to figure it out. …
“They packed the paint on us and took away some of our inside presence, so we needed some perimeter people to step up and that’s what happened.”
Madison Greene made five of Central’s eight 3-pointers and finished with 19 points. Trinity Jackson added 16 points and Olivia Cooper had 11, including baskets on consecutive possessions in the final 70 seconds to give the Tigers a 55-50 lead after their advantage had been trimmed to one.
Equally important as Greene’s offense was her defensive effort on Shamrocks senior guard Jenna Kopyar, who was held to four points. Wisconsin recruit Tessa Grady led Coffman (20-6) with 23 points, including a 50-foot heave from just beyond half court that touched nothing but the net to beat the halftime buzzer and gave the Shamrocks a 30-29 lead – their only lead of the game.
“Without defense, you can’t do anything else,” Greene said. “We got on their open shooters and shut them down when we had to.”
Coffman pulled into a 44-all tie midway through the fourth and was within 51-50 before Cooper’s baskets. The Tigers hit five of six foul shots in the final 36.6 seconds to ice the win.
“We’re a resilient team,” Shamrocks coach Adam Banks said. “(Central) did a good job of keeping their composure when we went on runs and they got some second-chance opportunities in the fourth quarter that kind of sealed the deal.”
Cincinnati Purcell Marian 63, Bexley 24
Making its first regional appearance in 19 years, Bexley (23-4) saw its season end in a Division II semifinal at Springfield.
“I told the team, ‘What if I told you before the season started that we’d win 23 games and a district title, would you have taken that,’ and they all said they would have,” coach Bryce Baugh said. “We looked at it as big picture. They accomplished a lot this year.”
Purcell Marian (24-2), last year's Division III state champion, will play Hamilton Badin in the regional final Friday.
Senior Sydnie Smith led Bexley with 10 points. Purcell Marian made 14 3-pointers.
“It’s not a shock how well they played,” Baugh said. “We weren’t expecting them to make 14 3-pointers. I thought we did a good job limiting their best player (Dee Alexander). She only scored 14 points. We did a good job on her, but we ended up leaving some of their shooters open and they knocked them down.”
Alexander is ranked No. 2 in the sophomore class nationally by ESPN.com.
Granville 42, New Concord John Glenn 6
Granville forced 24 and held John Glenn to only two field goals. It is Granville's first regional semifinal victory since its 1994 run to the state tournament.
The Blue Aces (25-2) face Proctorville Fairland (26-0) at 7 p.m. Friday.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Marysville, Pickerington Central win girls basketball regional semis
