Emily Aselage scored 16 points for the Tippecanoe Red Devils in their tournament loss to Northridge. (Press Pros Feature Photo By Julie McMaken Wright)
A frenzy of steals in the fourth quarter helped Northridge engineer a reverse comeback after giving up a 15-0 run to Tipp in the third. Northridge’s Jayah Martin, Arayiah McLemore and Javonah Jordan combined for 53 points in the upset victory.
Trotwood, Oh – If you’ve gotta go down, you might as well go down swingin’. No use in striking out looking.
The Tipp Lady Red Devils (16-8) kept swinging until the final buzzer in a 58-47 loss to Northridge (17-6). They even linked together an electric 15-0 run in the third quarter, but in the end, the Polar Bear press, the havoc and the turnovers were all too much to overcome.
Alan Brads is a journalism student at Cedarville University, and writes sports at large for Press Pros.
In a cruel twist of fate for the Red Devils, by the time all the desperation fouling was over they fell by 11 points, the exact margin by which they defeated Northridge in the tournament a year ago.
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But in fairness to Tipp, it was much closer than that really. They led 48-47 with two minutes to play.
But Northridge turned up the intensity to somewhere around 140% and won the same way they’d found success all night: turnovers, loose balls, transition points, and tough buckets.
The Polar Bears’ defensive philosophy makes for high paced and exciting basketball. They play with a high risk high reward mentality. They’ll get a steal or die trying.
“It’s honestly fun to play like that,” junior point guard Javonah Jordan said. “You get to be energetic and get the loose balls. We practice stuff like that.”
Practice made perfect as the Polar Bears wreacked enough havoc to survive and advance.
Tippecanoe’s Mady Turner gets a lay-up for the Red Devils.
While the Polar Bears won via chaos, it would be unfair to say that Tipp got out-efforted. They scrapped for every loose ball with vehemence – and there were plenty to scrap for. One particular scrum in the fourth quarter lasted at least 12 seconds in real time, but it felt more like 30.
Tipp even played to their strengths – they didn’t rely on any single player, but found the hot hand or the person in position to make the right play at the right time. They led the MVL in assists for a reason, and it showed even against a relentless group of disruptors like Northridge.
The Polar Bears effectively played to their strengths as well, not just defensively, but by lighting up the scoreboard by fighting in the lane with the ferocity of their namesake.
Jordan sliced into the lane, heaving up off-balance layups that had people already thinking about the rebound before the ball miraculously met nylon.
Sophomore forward Jayah Martin worked the lane, and poked a few steals for transition points – as she, the TRC’s leader in steals, is well accustomed to doing.
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“Jayah’s like that engine that we need,” Northridge Head Coach Antoine Sain said. “She makes plays for us, she’s what we need defensively, and what we need to rebound. When we needed plays down the stretch she was the one to make them for us.”
Martin finished with 21 points, and Jordan with 15. Arayiah McLemore drained three triples and accounted for 17.
Tipp’s Reese Hoover is rejected by Northridge’s Arayiah McLemore.
Tipp’s Emily Aselage and Courtney Post led the monumental third quarter surge, in which they went from trailing 31-22 to leading 37-31. Aselage collected 12 of her 16 points in the second half, and Post scored five of her 10 in that third quarter charge.
Though it’s a bitter end for the second-seeded Red Devils, their third place finish in a competitive Miami Valley League remains worth celebrating. Their season has been defined by teamwork. More than any other stat, they pop off the charts in the assists column, a fitting testament to the nature of the 2024 Lady Red Devils basketball team.
“I’m super proud of this group,” Tipp Head Coach Christina Pentaudi said. “The end of the season is always hard no matter when it comes. But when you feel that it came early is when it hurts even more. But I told them with the youth that we had across the board and how much they learned and gelled together this season, I’m super proud of the results we ended up having.”
They’ll lose two seniors, Laney Cleckner and Samantha Wall, and return a well-balanced squad with one more year of experience and cohesion.
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Tonight’s first quarter belonged to Northridge’s Martin, scoring eight points and swiping a pair of steals to burst out to a 16-11 lead.
She stepped off the stage in the second to allow Jordan to shine. She scooped in a couple miracle layups that Kyrie Irving would’ve been jealous of.
After she scored her eighth and ninth points of the quarter off the top few inches of the glass, the PA announcer called “Michael – I mean Javonah Jordan for two!” She played the part convincingly.
Red Devil Laney Cleckner guards Polar Bear Arayiah McLemore.
“I was just thinking that my team needed me,” Jordan said. “As the point guard I was trying to slow things down and get buckets to keep that lead.”
Tipp came out red hot in the third. Laney Cleckner bullseyed a three on the first possession, and they were off to the races. By the end of the 15-0 run, Macey Griffin sank a three of her own, Post collected every rebound that fell in her postal code, and Emily Aselage scored four, soon to be seven after converting an and-1.
All the loose balls and tipped rebounds that previously belonged to the Polar Bears started falling into Red Devil hands, and they made the most of it, pushing their lead to 40-33 at its peak.
“We had to stay disciplined and we had to keep communicating,” Martin said. “It’s a mental thing. We had to keep our composure going into the fourth quarter.”
Martin did some damage control late to make it 40-37 going into the fourth.
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“We could’ve folded, we could’ve quit,” Sain said. “But our players stayed the course and persevered, and they found a way to win the game. They played for each other. These grittier games are easier to win when you’re playing for something bigger than yourself.”
Sain helped them find taht way to win by making a crucial decision in the fourth. Down three with five minutes to play, he pulled the trigger on the full court press.
Tipp’s Courtney Post goes head to head with Northridge Jayah Martin.
Steal – Bucket – Steal – Bucket.
Northridge leads 46-45 with four minutes left.
Two minutes and two steals later, McLemore drilled a three to make the lead four points.
Failing to get open looks or convert covered ones, Tipp had no option but to foul and send the Polar Bears to the stripe. But Northridge sank eight of ten foul shots, making the scoreboard look uglier than the game was – but also making revenge just a little bit sweeter by flipping the script on last year’s 11 point loss.
“These girls have worked extremely hard to get where they are now from where we started,” a visibly emotional Sain said. “Seeing that hard work come to fruition tonight feels great.
The fifth ranked Polar Bears completed the upset, giving them a shot at the top dogs – the first seeded Urbana Hillclimbers – next Tuesday at Tecumseh High School.
And if tonight was an accurate representation of the Northridge Lady Polar Bears – they’ll either win, or meet the same fate as Tipp and go down swingin’.
Tippecanoe’s Laney Cleckner nails a three pointer for the Red Devils.
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