Southeast sweeps Mogadore, boosts PTC hopes

PALMYRA TWP. — The Pirates' title hopes hung by a thread.

The Wildcats nearly delivered a devastating blow with a potential game-winning layup at the buzzer that drew iron.

Given a second chance, Southeast took advantage, keeping its Portage Trail Conference championship hopes alive with a 50-44 overtime thriller over visiting Mogadore.

"It definitely means a lot since we lost to Mogadore both times last year," Pirates senior Kaitlin Long said. "As a senior, just seeing our team really come together and pull through and beat them both times this year was very good."

Southeast (14-6, 6-1) will now play Rootstown, which sits 6-0 in league play entering Thursday's PTC game against St. Thomas Aquinas, for at least a share of the championship next Wednesday.

"It's definitely nice to still have something to play for," Pirates coach Craig Nettleton said. "I mean you come down to this part of the season and I don't know how many people thought we'd be there, but it's nice that we've played well enough to have that game have some meaning."

Southeast overcomes obstacles to top Mogadore

To get to that point, the Pirates overcame no shortage of obstacles Wednesday.

Southeast first had to overcome Anna Keto's knee injury mere minutes into the game.

Down five (8-3) and a leading player, the Pirates responded with poise, building a 13-point lead (31-18).

An advantage that the feisty Wildcats proceeded to erase with an effective press and 22 points from junior Brook McIntyre.

Up most of the night, Southeast trailed by two late in regulation and early in overtime. The Pirates overcame both deficits, the first by splitting two pairs of free throws in the closing seconds of regulation and the latter with three big shots by sophomore Kayla Grope, who had a team-leading 16 points.

Down 42-40 in the final minute after McIntyre gave Mogadore its first lead since the first quarter, Southeast seniors Cami McPeak and Long each split a pair from the line to knot the score.

The Wildcats nearly won it with a buzzer-beating layup that drew iron, then took the lead in overtime on a pair of free throws by senior Jocelyn Lawrentz (4 points, 16 rebounds).

Undaunted, Grope called for the ball and drained a deep game-tying jumper from the left wing.

The sophomore then snagged an entry pass, drew a foul and made both free throws for a 46-44 lead.

"She's gotten way better at trying to get position and working for position and playing down there, and that makes it tough because when she's down there, you got to worry about her," Nettleton said. "Then, you're like, okay, you think you have a break when she comes out a little bit, and when she comes out, she can make that shot, so now she's putting the two things together, an inside game and an outside game and they're playing off of each other pretty well right now."

Mogadore had its chances, but couldn't score after Lawrentz's free throws to open overtime, while Southeast tacked on four more free throws to seal the outcome.

"We don't even talk about PTC or anything like that, so it's not about that," Nettleton said. "With us, it's just about the game we're playing and getting better and our thing was we made a mistake and luckily they didn't capitalize on it, and we're like, 'Hey, it's a second chance. We got four minutes. All we have to do is win four minutes right now.' Our girls are really tough-minded."

Southeast overcomes tough start

The Pirates also showed how tough-minded they are in Wednesday's early minutes.

Those minutes included Keto's injury and eight straight Mogadore points that turned Southeast's three-point lead off a Lexi Morris 3-pointer into an 8-3 deficit.

The Pirates were remarkably poised in the face of adversity with Grope snapping a streak of five scoreless minutes with a baby hook and Morris turning a defensive rebound into a fast break and a Sophia Fischer layup.

"I think we really found who we are," Long said. "We just came together and we're like we have to do this for Anna."

Southeast ended the opening stanza on an 8-2 run, capped by Fischer driving baseline and feeding Long for a baseline jumper to take an 11-10 lead.

"I've definitely been working on it all summer long," Long said. "Coach Nettleton has been, 'Shoot the ball, shoot the ball, shoot the ball when you get it in the corner because that's your shot,' and I've just been letting it fly in practice a little more."

The Pirates were no less effective in the second stanza, outscoring the visiting Wildcats 18-8, starting with a McPeak 3-pointer and another baseline jumper from Long, who also had a nifty pick-and-roll for a layup.

Long, especially given Keto's absence, had a huge game, scoring 11 points.

"There's been a couple of times where one of our main players have fouled out so I've been in situations like this," Long said. "I knew the role that I had to fulfill and I think I did a pretty good job."

Still, in that second quarter, McIntyre began to heat up, with eight of her 22 points to lead all scorers, and sophomore Ari Tompkins and McIntyre helped spark Mogadore's rally from 13 down early in the third.

First, Tompkins split a pair of free throws off a steal, then McIntyre ran a defensive rebound down the court for a pull-up jumper and finally Tompkins drained a deep 3-pointer to get within seven (31-24) midway through the third.

Still trailing 37-30 entering the fourth, McIntyre drained a 3-pointer off a kick back from senior McKenna Whitehead and added a "pick-six" layup to draw within two.

McIntyre later had a pull-up jumper to cut within one (40-39) with 2:40 remaining in regulation, and the junior even put the Wildcats in front for a brief moment as she raced in from the left wing and knocked down a runner with 25 seconds remaining.

The Pirates, up all game, didn't trail for long.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Southeast sweeps Mogadore, boosts Portage Trail Conference title odds