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ROCKY RIVER , OH – Gilmour traveled to Rocky River tonight to defeat Magnificat in a battle of the states top teams by a score of 51-46. The Lancers used red hot shooting for a big second quarter and then timely shooting the rest of the night to gain the win. In fact, the Blue Streaks actually outscored the Lancers in the 3 of the 4 quarters tonight, but the 22-7 second quarter from the Lancers proved to be the difference. The Lancers also hit 8 from downtown for 24 of their 51 points.
The Lancers were led by Tia Shaw with 12, while Katie Puletti had 9. It was Elaina Kline-Ruminski, Kelsey O’Toole and Helen Holley with 8 each, with Holleys 8 coming in the paint and at the line. Celia Duffy had a key 3 while Nicci Finazzo finished with 2.
The Blue Streaks only scored 24 points in the first 3 quarters, and that is what hurt them until they broke out for 22 in the fourth alone. They were led by Gemma Wichman who had a fantastic performance tonight with 15 while Kate Maryo had all of her 12 points in the second half. Julia Hall and Reese Roggenburk each had 7 while Sofia Wilson had 3 and Brynn Roggenburk scored 2.
The Lancers used a ball control offense along with stout defense to slow down the game early on, as it only saw 9 combined points six minutes into the action as Gilmour held a slim 5-4 lead. 2 of those 4 Blue Streak points came seconds into the game on a Reese Roggenburk layup and nearly a full six minutes went by until Gemma Wichman got them on the board again. The first quarter ended with the Blue Streaks on top, 9-8 with all of their points coming from the Wichman Roggenburk combination.
The Lancers came out guns blazing with full cylinders rolling as they scored 4 points in 60 seconds from Kline-Ruminski and Helen Holley to recapture the lead at 12-9. Two more foul shots from Kline-Ruminski along with another scoreless minute from the Blue Streaks, made it 14-9. A few minutes later, back-to-back buckets from Kline-Ruminski and Holley ran the lead out to 18-11 for the Lancers. A Duffy three handed the Lancers there first double-digit lead at 21-11 with 3:01 to play in the opening half.
After Tia Shaw’s second three pointer of the night made it 24-11, the Blue Streaks had no choice but to take a timeout and try to regroup with 2:31 left in the opening half. Back-to-back Wichman buckets out of the timeout cut the lead to 24-15 and inched the Blue Streaks back in the game. A quick three from Shaw halted the run however. A minute later, another Tia Shaw three handed the Lancers their biggest lead of the game at 30-15. The Lancers took a 30-16 lead into the break.
The second half began with a hustle play by Julia Hall keeping a ball inbounds that Katie Maryo was able to cash in for two points. The game stayed that way for a few minutes before both teams started going back and forth, mid quarter. It was during this stretch that the Lancers took their biggest lead of the night at 37-21. Further complicating things for the Blue Streaks was the fact they just couldn’t seem to find the better side of the whistle in this one. The Lancers held a 37-24 lead after three.
Down 13 to start the fourth quarter, the Blue Streaks didn’t go away without a fight and continued to scratch and claw their way back in the game. It was a triad of three balls from Katie Maryo that cut the Lancer lead to 43-35 with 4:35 left in the game, giving the Blue Streaks serious signs of life. A Kelsey O’Toole three ball, her second of the half brought it back up to double digits at 46-35 Lancers. A few minutes later, it was another mini-Magnificat run that cut it to 46-38 with 2:33 to play. The Lancers held on for the 51-46 win.
