Local Sports

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Division III Girls Regional: L-B rolls in second half

By TED RADICK

Staff writer

ADA -- Liberty-Benton had a forgettable first half Tuesday. Fortunately for the Eagles, the second half was one they will remember for a while.

Liberty-Benton outscored Tinora 35-25 over the final two periods and defeated the Rams 48-41 in a Division III regional semifinal at Ohio Northern University.

The Eagles, 24-0, advance to the regional final at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Lexington against the winner of today's Collins Western Reserve-North Union regional semifinal. Tinora ended its season at 22-3.

The Eagles, down 16-13 at halftime, wasted little time in getting things rolling in the final 16 minutes. Sophomore guard Caite Craft buried a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the third quarter to tie the game, and Amber Petersen's free throw with 7:26 left in the quarter gave Liberty-Benton its first lead.

Tinora tied the game at several points as the teams traded buckets and free throws, but the Eagles never trailed again.

"We survived the first half, that's the bottom line," Liberty-Benton coach Nate Irwin said of a half where the Eagles shot 5 of 17 from the field and were outrebounded 18-9.

"I don't know that we've had a game this season where Amanda's had to sit out quite that much, especially in a game that meant that much."

Liberty-Benton senior Amanda Hyde picked up her second foul with three seconds remaining in the first quarter and was on the bench the entire second quarter. Tinora led by three points when Hyde hit the bench, but the Rams were unable to extend their lead.

"I take the blame for that, it was a stupid foul," Hyde said. "But I have confidence in my teammates. I wasn't nervous. I knew they could get the job done.

"I was able to go back in the second half and help us get the win, but my teammates did most of the work tonight and I appreciate them for that."

Tinora coach Rich Thiel said a golden opportunity to take control of the game slipped away with Hyde on the sidelines.

"If the other team is missing their best offensive player and you only have a three-point lead at halftime, that obviously puts a little more stress on you to do some things offensively in the second half," he said. "But again, they're a well-rounded team. Those other girls kept them in the game offensively."

Especially Petersen. The senior hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter after Tinora had stretched its lead to 10-3 to keep Liberty-Benton in the game as Hyde sat.

"Someone had to step up and make shots, because things weren't working out like we wanted them to. I shot with confidence, and that opened up other things like Caite driving to the basket," she said.

"Amber hit a couple of big shots in the first half, and that's what kept us close enough, within striking distance," Irwin said.

Liberty-Benton began to assert itself in the third quarter. Tinora's Jessica Brumbaugh anwered the Eagles' early flurry with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 19-19, but Ashley Snider hit a basket and Craft drove into the paint for a couple of short running jumpers.

"I knew our whole team wasn't shooting well from 3-point range," Craft said. "We had to find other ways to score. Sometimes you have to take the ball inside and try to draw a foul or make a play.

"Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and fortunately it worked tonight."

Conscious of Liberty-Benton's outside shooting, the Rams went to a 1-3-1 defense for a possession late in the third quarter. Petersen buried a 3-pointer -- she was 3 of 3 from outside the arc -- against the zone and Liberty-Benton stretched its lead to 30-25 with 2:18 remaining in the third period.

Over the next eight minutes, the Eagles ran off a 13-4 stretch, including eight straight points in the fourth quarter. Hyde had nine of those 13 points, including seven from the free-throw line, as Liberty-Benton upped its lead to 43-29 with more than two minutes remaining in the game.

"When you put them on the line 21 times, and in the second half they were 2 of 3 from 3-point range, that's a pretty good half on their part," Thiel said.

"The biggest thing might have been rebounds," Irwin said. "We rebounded a lot better, and that let us have a chance to get to the other end and score."

Hyde scored a game-high 16 points, hitting 12 of 13 from the line, and had five rebounds. Craft added 11 points and a game-high three assists, and Petersen had 12 points, four blocks and a game-high six rebounds. Liberty-Benton shot 8 of 11 from the floor and 17 of 19 from the line in the second half.

Anna Steffel led Tinora with 11 points. Mykaela Flory had nine points, and Kendra McCann seven points and four rebounds.

tinora (41)

McCann 3-8 1-2--7, Meyer 2-4 0-2--4, Benecke 0-1 0-0--0, Kahle 0-4 0-0--0, Brumbaugh 2-5 1-1--7, J. Flory 0-1 3-4--3, Steffel 4-13 3-3--11, M. Flory 3-3 0-0--9, Zipfel 0-0 0-0--0, Sanders 0-0 0-0--0, Stafford 0-0 0-0--0, DeTray 0-0 0-0--0. TOTALS: 14-39 9-13--41.

Liberty-Benton (48)

Snider 1-3 0-0--2, Ramsey 0-2 4-4--4, Hyde 2-5 12-13--16, Petersen 4-6 1-2--12, Craft 5-11 0-0--11, Gibson 1-1 0-0--2, Burkett 0-0 1-2--1, A. Schroeder 0-0 0-0--0, K. Schroeder 0-0 0-0--0, Rhodes 0-0 0-0--0. TOTALS: 13-28 18-21--48.

Tinora 6 10 11 14 -- 41

Liberty-Benton 3 10 20 15 -- 48

3-Point GOALS: Tinora 4-11 (M. Flory 3, Brumbaugh); Liberty-Benton 4-13 (Petersen 3, Craft).

rebounds: Tinora 22 (McCann 4, Meyer 4, J. Flory 4); Liberty-Benton 19 (Petersen 6).

Assists: Tinora 8 (Kahle 2); Liberty-Benton 7 (Craft 3).

Blocks: Tinora 0; Liberty-Benton 6 (Petersen 4).

Steals: Tinora 1 (Brumbaugh); Liberty-Benton 5 (Craft 3).

turnovers: Tinora 7, Liberty-Benton 6.

Radick, 419-427-8405

tedradick@thecourier.com

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