Madison girls roll past Dixie, will face top seed for sectional title

Madison High School’s girls basketball team has earned the right to play for a championship.

In this case, it’s a Division III sectional title, and the Mohawks have created a nice head of steam by winning nine of their last 11 games.

“It’s a really big honor to be back in the sectional finals,” senior forward Kelli Bush said Wednesday night after Madison rolled over Dixie 61-31 in a sectional semifinal at Franklin Monroe. “I think we really have a chance. I’m not ready to give up my high school career yet.”

Bush had 14 points and 16 rebounds as the fifth-seeded Mohawks (14-9) moved to 2-0 in the postseason, then started focusing on one more trip to Franklin Monroe.

Madison will play top-seeded West Liberty-Salem (23-1), a 71-14 winner over Brookville in Wednesday’s nightcap, on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The Mohawks lost to Versailles 64-41 in last year’s sectional finals.

“I’m happy for our seniors to have a chance at a sectional title again,” Madison coach Brian McGuire said of Bush and Ally Hoskins. “It doesn’t happen for everybody, so I’m really glad we’ve put ourselves in this position.”

The Mohawks had little trouble dispatching Southwestern Buckeye League rival Dixie (5-18), the No. 13 seed, for the third time this season.

Lily Campbell tallied 10 of her 12 points and Kenzi Saunders marked nine of her 12 points in the first half, helping Madison take a 34-8 lead into halftime.

McGuire wasn’t thrilled with his squad’s second-half fire — or lack thereof — but he understood the situation.

“It was an uninspired second half,” McGuire said. “That’s what happens in a game like this. When we pull back our pressure, our intensity drops down. I didn’t want to embarrass Dixie. I’m not out here to do that to kids. But I still want us to play hard no matter what we’re doing or who’s on the floor.”

Hoskins had nine rebounds and Campbell hauled in six for the Mohawks, while Jenna O’Hair chipped in seven points and five boards. Guard Lillie Runnells came off the bench and added six points after missing the tournament opener because of illness.

“Madison’s a better basketball team,” Greyhounds coach Robyn Meinking said. “They’ve got quick guards, and we just couldn’t keep up with them. I was happy with our effort in the second half of this game. Overall, we did the best we could.”

McKinlee Ruppert collected 10 points and seven rebounds for Dixie, which ended the campaign on a 10-game losing streak. Sydney Creamer notched eight points and six boards, Sarah Landis racked up 11 rebounds, and Faith Russell added eight points.

“We were in there to stop Ruppert,” McGuire said. “We picked her up and face-guarded her and just wouldn’t let her get the ball. I thought we defended her really well.”

Landis and Russell are the Greyhounds’ only two seniors.

“My team’s really young,” Meinking said. “We forget most of the time that we’re full of sophomores that don’t have a lot of experience. It’s been a long season for us. We’ve had some injuries and a lot of younger girls. But brighter days are ahead. Give me a couple years. These sophomores are really my core group, and we’ve got some younger middle schoolers coming up that are really going to help us in the future.”

The Mohawks beat Dixie 43-37 on Dec. 15 and 63-30 on Jan. 21. Bush said Meinking gave Madison a little extra motivation for Round 3.

“There might have been a little bit of trash talk going on,” Bush said. “Not really serious or anything like that, but I think it kind of lit a fire underneath us. We decided that we didn’t even want it to be close, and we were going to send a message.

“Our coach told us in the SWBL meeting that their coach came up and said, ‘Be prepared for the bus ride home.’ (It was) like, ‘We’re going to beat you guys.’ Coach was kind of laughing about it. We all thought it was funny, but then once we got here, we were like, ‘OK, let’s show her.’ ”

The 5-foot-10 Bush leads the SWBL in rebounding and is the only player in the conference averaging a double-double. She said she takes pride in her board work.

“I’ve always been kind of a rebounder,” Bush said. “I try to rebound as much as I can because I feel like everybody wants to be a scorer. I think the scoring comes, but you have to go after the ball. I try to start a lot of fast breaks and stuff, like throwing the ball to my teammate Kenzi. She does a really good job of seeing the floor.”

Dixie 4-4-12-11—31

Madison 18-16-12-15—61

DIXIE (5-18): McKinlee Ruppert 1 7 10, Lexi Coffman 0 2 2, Sydney Creamer 2 4 8, Faith Russell 4 0 8, Mariah Harlow 1 1 3. Totals: 8-14-31

MADISON (14-9): Jenna O’Hair 3 0 7, Lillie Runnells 1 4 6, Ally Hoskins 2 1 5, Lily Campbell 5 0 12, Kenzi Saunders 4 3 12, Lauren Dietz 2 1 5, Kelli Bush 4 6 14. Totals: 21-15-61

3-pointers: D 1 (Ruppert), M 4 (Campbell 2, O’Hair, Saunders)

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