The players — not everyone else — were right. The unranked Tigers (poll voters didn’t think the Tigers could do it either) dominated unbeaten and third-ranked Cincinnati Summit Country Day 41-24 Saturday in the Division III regional final at Springfield High School.
“It’s such a great feeling,” senior guard Lauren Bruns said. “You dream of it as a little kid and now that you get to go it’s something that no one can put words for.”
The Tigers graduated nine seniors off last year’s state runner-up. Only Bruns and senior center Christa Puthoff were significant contributors. But Winner and senior guard Shelby Hyre excelled as starters, and young guards Kami McEldowney (freshman) and Camille Watren (sophomore) became key players.
“They said, ‘This is our turn,’” Tigers coach Jacki Stonebraker said. “They said we’re going to do this and learn along the way.”
Navigating that learning curve means the Tigers (24-4) will play in their seventh state tournament. Their semifinal opponent is Doylestown Chippewa, a 58-39 winner over Garfield, at 6 p.m. Thursday at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center.
“I had to do more communicating with the team and the seniors,” Stonebraker said. “They really wrapped their arms around the underclassmen and pulled them along the way and believed in what we’ve done.”
Bruns scored 12 points and Winner 11 against a quick and scrappy Summit defense. But it was the Tigers’ long-on-the-perimeter and strong-in-the-post defense that keyed the victory. Summit (27-1) has good 3-point shooters and relies on freshman point guard Ravin Alexander to drive and score or drive and pass out to an open shooter.
Stonebraker told her team to give their quick opponents a step and not let them get around them to attack the basket. She has one word for that strategy in case a Summit player did get past her defender.
“Help … help, help, help, help, help … help, help and more help,” she said. “And more rotation.”
The Tigers were at their best in holding Summit without a field goal over the final seven minutes of the second quarter until the 3:50 mark of the third. A 20-1 run put the Tigers in control at 28-10.
”I knew they were going to be a tough team,” Bruns said, “and I think we played a heck of a game today.”
Loramie back to state: Fort Loramie jumped to an early lead and went on to defeat Felicity-Franklin 62-48 in a Division IV girls basketball regional final at Tippecanoe.
Holly Frey scored 23 points and Kelly Turner 14 for the Redskins, who started on an 8-0 run and led 28-13 at the half.
Fort Loramie (24-4) returns to the state tournament for a third straight year and will face Associated Press No. 1-ranked Berlin Hiland (27-1) on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center. The Redskins won the state title in 2013 and lost to Reedsville Eastern in the state semifinal last year.
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