Twinsburg girls battle, but fall on the road to Hudson

It looked like the Twinsburg girls basketball team would not be able to have an answer to a pair of big first half runs on the road at Hudson.

As it turned out, Twinsburg did show plenty of resiliency and fight to respond to the first half runs, but it would be a devastating second half spurt that would be just too much for the Lady Tigers to overcome.

For Twinsburg, it wasn’t until superb senior guard Logan Pride converted a layup in transition with just 43.6 second left in the first quarter that the Tigers scored their first points in this league contest.

A 9-0 Hudson run led to a jumper by standout Explorer guard Ali Menendez (who had 19 points) off a feed from versatile forward Delaney DiGeronimo.

DiGeronimo, who had a sensational floor game with nine points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, helped Hudson to a 20-4 lead with 4:34 remaining in the first half.

With nine first half turnovers, it would have been easy for Twinsburg to stop fighting at that point, but the Tigers didn’t.

“Our own errors have cost us at times and that is all part of the process of learning as an inexperienced team,” emphasized first-year head coach Chris Esterak.

Esterak has also loved how his winless club has battled all season long.

Twinsburg did just that – battle.

Senior guard Makayla Busicnki hit a transition lay up on a dish from Pride and then Pride had a steal and a lay up to slice that led to 22-14 with 1:27 left.

Finally, junior post Genesis Carthen hit a free throw to give Twinsburg an 11-2 run and cut the lead with 59.2 seconds left in the first half, which ended at 22-15 in favor of the hosts.

That momentum spilled into the second half for the Tigers.

Pride made a left-handed layup in traffic and then followed with a pair of free throws to open the second half and cut the lead to 22-19.

However, it was short-lived as Hudson used a 12-2 spurt to answer and take command of the game for good in a 55-40 victory. Hudson (6-8) moved to 4-3 in the Suburban League National Conference.

Having another stellar game was Pride, who continues to excel despite opponents keying on her.

The talented Pride ended with 22 points, 14 coming in the second half. She snagged 13 rebounds with four steals and two assists.

Another Tiger who continues to produce is junior forward Sophie Adick, who has shown so much improvement. She had six points, 10 caroms and two assists.

Senior guard Victoria Hayes gave Esterak a spark off the bench with three points and three rebounds while junior forward Lauren Glessman had eight boards, Carthen hit a 3-pointer and had four points, and junior Alexis Cellura had three.

“We need to try and continue to improve and work to tune up for the post season tournament because anything can happen,” explained Esterak.

Pride had 10 points and Carthen scored eight in a recent 57-34 league loss to Wadsworth (10-5, 7-2). Carthen also recently put in nine points in a loss to Kenston.

“Genesis has been really coming around like I thought she could for about the last three or four games,” offered Esterak. “Logan (Pride) leads us on offense, but lately Genesis has definitely been a big help on the offensive end.”

Players like Adick, Hayes, and Glessman have worked hard to show they have improved on the offensive side of things and have the confidence to try and support Pride.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Twinsburg girls battle, but fall on the road to Hudson