Faith York scores an early bucket for Russia…Raiders dominate in win over Ridgedale. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
Russia’s stifling defense carried the Raiders through to the regional finals amidst a sluggish offensive performance. The Raiders used an 18-0 run to oust another lesser opponent. They’ll face Cedarville, who knocked off Mississinawa Valley 49-43.
In postseason basketball, there’s really only one box to check in each game: win.
Russia checked its box with a 45-28 win against the Division VII Cinderella team, Ridgedale (11-14), in the regional semifinals.
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The Raiders (23-3) missed a lot of the other boxes they would’ve liked to check off, but thanks to an 18-0 run spanning the second quarter and change, they marked off the big one.
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The regional semifinal victory gives Russia’s girls their deepest tournament run this century.
“Breaking that glass ceiling on the volleyball team this fall was just so fun,” junior Celeste Borchers said. “And now that we’ve been to state once, we’re just really, really excited to go back.”
To do that, they’ll have to take down Cedarville in the regional final at Butler High School on Saturday. Cedarville beat Mississinawa Valley 49-43 in a regional semifinal thriller.
Borchers helped propel Russia through the semis with a stellar night on the glass at both ends. She grabbed three offensive rebounds in the first quarter, allowing her to score nine points in the opening period.
“The offense was a little slow tonight,” Borchers said. “So getting offensive rebounds especially, and elongating plays to get more chances to score was huge.”
The Raiders’ Kylie Doseck spots an open teammate on a fast break scoring opportunity against Ridgedale.
The Raiders grabbed 16 total offensive boards, which, at times, was their most reliable form of offense.
“We were just sloppy tonight,” Russia coach Michael Bashore said. “We just weren’t clicking, or we were in spurts.”
Despite a glaring height differential, Ridgedale’s undersized forwards played tough post defense, preventing Russia from having its way on offense. The Raiders shot and missed more than their fair share of mid-rangers and threes.
“We spent three games in Tecumseh getting used to shooting there,” Bashore said. “I played here, and I know this is not an easy environment to shoot the basketball in.”
But a stout defense and dominant rebounding performance more than made up for a sputtering offense.
Ridgedale depends heavily on star guard Maddie McKenzie to score on the dribble drive. Once Russia keyed in on that and defended without fouling, the Rockets had no one else to turn to.
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“She’s a pretty fast and quick player,” said Hazel Francis, who spent the evening guarding McKenzie. “So I just had to always stay in front of her and stop her from getting down to the basket.”
McKenzie stayed devoted to the dribble drive, but Francis, Division VII Southwest District Co-Player of the Year, didn’t give up much. Francis averages 10 points per game – enough to be a threat, but few enough to tell you she probably earned co-player of the year on the other end of the floor.
Hazel Francis works inside for a basket in Wednesday’s regional win over Ridgedale.
On the occasion McKenzie did make some headway, Borchers and Kylie Doseck walled her off.
The Raiders nabbed a few key turnovers with their full-court press, but more crucially than that, they didn’t give up more than a shot per possession, and the one shot Ridgedale got was never an easy look.
The defense seldom turned into offense in transition, despite Bashore’s incessant pleas to push the ball up the floor.
In the absence of offensive flow, Aryanna Cordonnier knocked down a couple of threes, including the 18-0 run catalyst, to co-lead Russia with 13 points. Francis added seven.
The Rockets’ district title as a team below .500 will live forever in Ridgedale history. It’s no shame for them to get thrown down by Russia in regionals.
But early on, Ridgedale’s fate didn’t look as sealed as the previous teams the Raiders plundered.
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The Rockets came out like a nine-seed that truly believed it could beat the No. 1 team in the state, and for a quarter, there was no reason to say they couldn’t.
McKenzie drove hard and knocked down 5/6 first-quarter free throws. On the other end, they kept the ball out of the low post where Russia could flex its size advantage. The crowd brought unexpected energy and volume considering the two-hour drive and anticipated mismatch.
Russia’s Callie Goubeau hits a jumper in Wednesday’s win over Ridgedale.
But the buzz evaporated when Cordonnier drained a three from the right wing for a 16-10 lead at the first-quarter horn, then Callie Goubeaux splashed another from the same spot early in the second to push the margin past ten.
The full-court defense overwhelmed Ridgedale to the point of a scoreless second quarter, and a pedestrian offense fueled by offensive rebounds, free throws and a banked three took Russia to the half up 29-10.
Both sides suffered through a sleepy second half that featured about as many jump balls as made field goals.
Russia’s lead peaked at 40-15 before deflating and settling at 45-28 at the final buzzer.
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McKenzie led Ridgedale with 14 points (10/12 FTs) and Camryn Thiel added seven, all in the final period.
It was never going to take an A+ effort for the Raiders to check the big box. That’s true for the regional semis, and for the three preceding games, which they won by an aggregate of 187-52.
“We’ve kinda gotten used to not having to play anybody for a while,” Bashore said. “And we earned that. We earned that one seed with our schedule and how hard we played in the regular season … But you gotta play your best game to win every one starting Saturday.”
B-minus might not do the trick in the regional final against Cedarville.
The Lady Indians knocked off fifth-ranked Mississinawa Valley and All-District Co-Player of the Year, Brooklyn Seubert, right after Russia’s win. The Indians let a six-point fourth quarter lead dissolve into a four-point disadvantage before rallying for a 49-43 win.
Cedarville’s win prevents a rematch of last year’s district final in which Mississinawa Valley ended Russia’s season 45-44 in overtime.
Francis’ fellow All-Southwest District first teamer Maria Christian led the Indians with 22 points, and Katelyn Reed dropped 15 in support.
If they score like that in the regional final, Russia’s squad knows it’ll have to find another gear on offense.
“I think we just have to play our game,” Borchers said. “We all know that we can do that.”
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