London Johnson gets up between New Albany defenders Micah Jeffries and Julie Evans during a regional final blowout that saw the Tigers punch their ticket to the final four for the fourth season in a row. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
Pickerington Central and Kettering Fairmont rolled to regional final wins at the Ohio Expo Center Taft Coliseum Friday, setting up a tantalizing state semifinal matchup in Dayton Thursday.
Columbus, OH – Blame it on humility or silly coaching superstitions, but Johnathan Hedgepeth would just as soon not know the specifics of his Pickerington Central girls basketball team’s gaudy achievements on the district, regional and state level.
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Better cover your eyes, Hedge.
The Tigers waltzed out of the Ohio Expo Center’s Taft Coliseum with a 17th Division I regional championship trophy – and fourth in a row – on Friday, thanks to a 59-28 shellacking of New Albany in the Region 3 final that shocked absolutely no one. At the Central District tournament draw, opponents avoided the defending state champions like the plague and they reinforced the many reasons why.
“Of course, the standard here is always high but I always tell my girls to focus on one goal at a time … the OCC, the district, the regional and, hopefully the state,” Hedgepeth said. “I did tell our (six) seniors that to play in four straight fours is truly an amazing feat and a blessing.”
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One of those seniors is Ohio University-bound Blossom Wallace, who is the last of four Wallace sisters to earn a major college scholarship.
“We don’t ever take winning regional championships for granted, but it is the standard now at Central,” she said.
Cover your eyes, again, Hedge.
The 17 regional titles rank second only to Berlin Hiland (19) in the Ohio High School Athletic Association record book.
Only 18 teams in history have reached the state four straight seasons. Three of them hail from Pickerington as the 1992-95 and 1997-2000 teams produced two state titles each.
Also, the Tigers’ eight state championships trails Africentric by just one. A ninth won’t come easy as Central (23-3) will face Kettering Fairmont (26-0) in a humdinger of a state semifinal at 8 p.m. Thursday at the University of Dayton Arena.
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The Firebirds, who beat Olentangy 66-45 in the Region 2 matchup earlier in the evening, are ranked No. 1 in the state by MaxPreps’ power rating index. Central is third. Fairmont handed Central its only in-state defeat 60-54 on Nov. 23.
Pickerington Central’s Zoe Coleman elevates in the lane for a score during a regional final against New Albany at the Taft Coliseum
“We were a little short-handed in the first half of the season because of some injuries,” junior guard Zoe Coleman said, “but we know all about Fairmont and that’s a really talented, connected, well-coached basketball team. We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game to beat them.”
Coleman scored 13 points, Wallace 12 and London Johnson to eight to pace Central, which raced to a 14-2 lead over New Albany and never looked back. Much of the fourth quarter was played with a running clock due to the OHSAA’s 35-point mercy rule.
The Tigers used their elite athleticism and prowess on the offensive boards to overwhelm the Eagles (17-9), who were celebrating their first regional appearance since 2003.
On the first possession of the game, Wallace scored on a fifth-chance basket and that was a portend of what was to come.
“They’re big and they’re athletic and they present a lot of tough matchups,” New Albany first-year coach Eric Van Cleave said. “They gave us a lot of fits with their defensive pressure. Collectively, from one to five, we haven’t seen anything like that. Not to use it as an excuse, but with one night to prepare, that’s hard to simulate.”
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The 6-1 Wallace is finally back to health after missing time with a stress fracture in her foot and 6-0 London Johnson just made her debut about five weeks ago from a knee injury.
Deyon Smith drives past New Albany defender Julie Evans.
“I feel like we have everything now,” Hedgepeth said. “Even when we aren’t clicking from the field, I know that our size helps with offensive rebounding and interior defense.”
Ms. Basketball finalist Kaylah Thornton, an Akron signee, scored 22 points and sidekick Janiyah Hargrave, who is the top-ranked sophomore in Ohio, added 14 and Nico Cornett nine to pace Fairmont, which coasted to a comfortable win over third-ranked Olentangy (22-4).
Central District player of the year and Ms. Basketball finalist Whitney Stafford, a Kent State signee, scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half to keep Olentangy within striking distance. But the Firebirds used their full-court pressure and traps to force numerous turnovers that led to breakouts. And their exquisite passing and teamwork in the halfcourt led to more easy baskets.
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This marks Fairmont’s first trip to the final four since it won its only state title in 2013, capping a four-year run of state qualifiers.
Ameera Jenkins shows intensity in the paint.
“In the second half, we really picked it up defensively,” Fairmont coach Jeremey Finn said. “We knew we had to get out and contest their threes because they can go on runs that way. Whitney Stafford is a great player and she’s going to score no matter what but slowing her down in the second half is what allowed us to pull away.”
Olentangy coach Klarke Ransome was keenly aware of the challenge his team faced against perhaps the most prodigious one-two punch in Ohio.
“They’re long, athletic, well-coached, organized and compete very, very hard,” Ransome said. “They’re super connected and unselfish, too. Even with two star players like they have, they only care about winning. Our game plan was to limit our turnovers and limit them to one shot, but at the end of the day, their athleticism gave us a lot of problems.”
New Albany’s Julie Evans was all hustle, all night long, but the Eagles couldn’t contain a taller, more athletic Pickerington Central team.
A cup-half-empty type person might grouse that Olentangy fell just short of the final four three straight seasons. But a cup-half-full type would point out that this Braves outfit – with an unprecedented three consecutive district championships – achieved unparallelled success.
“Every year you want to take another step,” Ransome said. “But today just wasn’t our day. But this group of girls really raised the bar for our program. Our kids and our program will respond. Our standards and expectations will stay the same.”
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