Three losses by a total of five points prevented the Wadsworth girls basketball team from a 20-0 regular season.
Grizzlies coach Andrew Booth doesn’t fret over the setbacks. Instead, he and his players learned from the games, moved on and finished with a 17-3 overall record that includes a 14-0 mark in the Suburban League.
Top-seeded Wadsworth extended its season Tuesday with a 61-31 victory over Copley in a Division I sectional semifinal at Medina. Wadsworth will meet Ellet in a sectional final at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“I think the big thing for us is that we had six letter winners coming back off a regional team from last year,” Booth said Wednesday.
“We brought a lot of experience back. We are averaging 63 points a game and our leading scorer [senior wing] Jessie Gearhart is averaging 11.1. We have nine kids between 3.5 and 11.1 points, so we are very balanced offensively, which makes us hard to defend.
“Defensively, our trademark has always been pressure defense. We are pretty quick, pretty aggressive and we have some toughness in us, which I think carries us a long way.”
Wadsworth (18-3) has won 10 in a row since a Jan. 11 loss at home to Hudson (59-57). The other losses were at defending Division I state champion Twinsburg (48-47) on Nov. 30 and at Midpark (47-45) on Dec. 28.
Wadsworth’s top wins came against Toledo Notre Dame, Berlin Hiland, Medina and Green (twice).
Booth said Wadsworth has had at least a share of the league championship in 20 of the past 22 years.
Wadsworth’s last Suburban League loss came at Green on Jan. 23, 2010. Since then, the Grizzlies have won 33 league games in a row.
“Wadsworth girls have been good for years, way before I got here,” said Booth, who is in his seventh season. “There have been seven times where we have won back-to-back Suburban titles, but this is the first-ever back-to-back with 14-0 records, which is interesting to me.”
Senior wing Kara Long (11.0 points), junior point guard Rachel Goddard (10.3) and senior guard Christy Cingel (7.7) are also key scorers.
Booth said junior post Sabrina Parsons will likely miss the rest of the season after a recent injury. In her absence, sophomore Peyton Booth has stepped into the starting lineup. Juniors Taylore Robinson, McKenzie O’Brien and Haley Hassinger are top reserves with sophomore Hannah Centea.
Surging Bulldogs
Canton McKinley won its eighth consecutive game Tuesday when the Bulldogs beat host Cleveland Heights 69-48.
McKinley has a 12-7 record after starting the season 3-6.
“We are happy where we are at right now,” first-year McKinley coach Keith Noftz said Wednesday. “We know it can go as quickly as it came. We had a tough opponent last night. We played very well at Cleveland Heights. St. Vincent-St. Mary is our next opponent and they are a very good team.”
Bulldogs senior guard Devaughntah Williams has led the resurgence along with senior forward Da’Vontai Rorie and junior center Mike Mills.
“The difference has been the play of our big men, Mills and Rorie,” Noftz said. “Rorie is averaging 17 points over the last seven games and Mills is averaging nine. He is getting better every time out. Williams has been consistent all year. He is our best player and is averaging 21 points per game.”
Senior Tyler Foster and junior Hollis Alexander round out the starting five as guards.
Noftz came to McKinley with high school and collegiate coaching experience. He was an assistant at Bowling Green, Evansville and Central Michigan for a combined 17 years.
Cleveland Heights (16-3), ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Division I state poll, was playing without its top player, senior point guard Tyree Gaiter. He suffered a broken right wrist Feb. 16 in a game at Cleveland St. Ignatius.
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/.
