Lakota East coach Nikki Drew was emotionally spent after the Thunderhawks upset Drew's former team, Colerain, in a Division I girls' basketball sectional final.The No. 14-seeded Thunderhawks won 68-60 over No. 3 seed Colerain Friday night at Harrison.
Drew was head coach at Colerain for six years, then went to Lakota East last season in an assistant's role. She moved for family reasons and to be nearer her home in the Kings area, then became Lakota East head coach this season after Todd Benzinger stepped down. "I am a woman of mixed emotions tonight, for sure," Drew said. "It's a very unique situation, having been at Colerain."
• Photos: Lakota East 68, Colerain 60
Sophomore forward Molly Blomer had 25 points for East, and sophomore guard Whitney Wyckoff had 21 points and 12 rebounds.
For Colerain, senior guard Ashley Wanninger had 18 points to become the top girls' scorer in school history. The Xavier-bound Wanninger finished with 1,297 career points to eclipse Quanita Hailey (Colerain class of 2001), who had 1,293. Sophomore guard Sheaira Jones also had 18 points for Colerain.
East (13-10) is enjoying its finest season since the Lakota East-split of 1997. Before this winter, East had never won more than eight games in a season. "They're playing smarter than sophomores, that's for sure," said Drew, whose three top scorers Friday were sophs.
Colerain coach Christi Mack said her team was outplayed. East shot 52 percent from the floor, Colerain 36.5 percent. "We had an off-night with our shooting," Mack said. "I told our kids, a 17-5 record is nothing to be ashamed of."
Colerain beat Lakota East 59-51 in the regular season, Jan. 23 at Lakota East.
East advances to the district finals next Saturday (7 p.m.) at Harrison, against the winner of today's Beavercreek-Xenia sectional final.
Colerain (17-5) - Harper 3 3 9, Feuchter 0 1 1, Fitzpatrick 4 0 10, Wanninger 7 1 18, Jones 8 1 18, Thompson 0 1 1, Andrews 1 0 3. Totals: 23 7 60.
Lakota East (13-10) - Blomer 12 0 25, Outlaw 1 2 5, Kidd 0 1 1, Grevenkamp 4 0 9, Wyckoff 7 6 21, Zieverink 2 1 5, Pashi 1 0 2. Totals: 27 10 68.
-683-pointers: C 7 (Wanninger 3, Fitzpatrick 2, Jones, Andrews); LE 4 (Blomer, Outlaw, Grevenkamp, Wyckoff).
EAST UPSETS COLERAIN!
ReplyDeleteMagical Season Continues for the Lady Hawks
The Lakota East girl’s basketball team defeated the No. 3 seed Colerain Cardinals, 68-60 on Friday night winning the school’s first sectional basketball title. The young Thunderhawks will continue their storied season advancing along with 5 other GMC girl’s teams to next weekends District finals.
“This is a special group of young ladies who do not want their season to be over,” said first year head coach Nikki Drew. Drew faced her former team for the second time this season avenging an earlier 59-51 loss.
East led Colerain at the half by a slim 31-29 margin then saw the Cardinals (17-5) tie it up early in the third quarter. The Thunderhawks (13-10) outscored Colerain 21-4 the rest of the frame, highlighted by a 12-0 run. Alyssa Grevenkamp’s layup gave the Hawks their largest lead of the game at 56-35 with 6:55 to play.
Colerain did not have an answer for East’s super sophomores Molly Blomer and Whitney Wyckoff. Blomer led all scorers with a season high 25 points shooting an amazing 12-15 from the field. Wyckoff added 21 points, three steals, and career-high 12 rebounds and 6 assists.
“They are outworking their opponents and playing as good together as a team can at the right time,” said Drew. “They are playing very inspired and it has been a pleasure to coach them.”
East will face the Xenia Buccaneers (16-6) next Saturday at Harrison High School for a chance to advance to Regional’s. The Xenia-East contest will be the last of 5 District final games played that day. Tipoff is slated for 11:00 am.
https://mail.lakotaonline.com/~dan.hilen/leh_res_wint_09_10.html#gbball
HARRISON — The magic continues for Lakota East High School’s girls basketball team.
ReplyDeleteAnd there are no signs of it disappearing anytime soon.
The No. 14 Thunderhawks blew open a close game with a third-quarter scoring spree to capture the program’s first-ever Division I sectional title in an impressive 68-60 victory over No. 3 Colerain on Friday night, Feb. 26, at Harrison.
“We’ve been working so hard all season for this,” East sophomore Molly Blomer said. “We have great team chemistry. We just pulled that out. We wanted it more than they did. We played with heart the whole game.”
Blomer led the offensive attack with a career-high 25 points on 12-of-15 shooting, as the Thunderhawks shot 52 percent (27-of-52) for the game and 64 percent (16-of-25) in the second half.
Sophomore guard Whitney Wyckoff added 21 points, three steals, and career-highs in rebounds (12) and assists (six).
“We always say the first three minutes of the third quarter is what decides the game,” Wyckoff said. “We knew we had to come out hard and we did. That’s what decided the game.”
East took a slim 31-29 lead into halftime, and saw the Cardinals (17-5) tie it up early in the third quarter.
But the Thunderhawks (13-10) outscored Colerain 21-4 the rest of the frame, highlighted by a 12-0 run that spilled into the fourth quarter.
By the time the dust settled following Alyssa Grevenkamp’s layup, East boasted its largest lead of the game at 56-35 with 6:55 to play.
“I am a woman of mixed emotions, that is for sure,” said East coach Nikki Drew, who coached Colerain for six years before joining East’s staff last year. “I mean it’s something you dream of. The girls executed the game plan. At the same time, it’s bittersweet. Colerain’s a heck of a team. It’s a very unique situation to coach against them. It’s hard to prepare emotionally, but I can’t give enough credit to my girls. They were making big shots. They were playing smarter than sophomores, that’s for sure.”
Ashley Wanninger and Sheaira Jones scored 18 points apiece to lead the Cardinals.
“In our minds as a coaching staff, there was no way they could shoot that well again (in the second half) and they did,” Colerain coach Christi Mack said. “We didn’t do a good job defending. It’s hard because all year long our kids have bought into our defensive system, and we’ve done it very well. Tonight it didn’t work well for us.”
East moves on to a Division I district final against Beavercreek (16-5) or Xenia (15-6) on Saturday, March 6, at Harrison. Those two teams play Saturday, Feb. 27.
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5113 or smatthews@coxohio.com.
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