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ARTICLE WRITTEN BY JEFF R SABO
It is often said there is no place like home.
For the Nordonia Knights girls basketball team, playing at home was what they needed against Suburban League foe Brecksville-Broadview Heights Lady Bees.
The Knights, who had come into the game with only three wins, took down the Lady Bees in with a 47-45 matinee matchup win at home. The Lady Bees had only lost one game coming into the matchup and were undefeated playing in Summit County coming into the matchup.
“We didn’t really talk about other team’s records and stuff like that,” said Nordonia Knights Head Coach Ryan Wolfgang. “We compete every single night so we know Brecksville is a great team, a really really strong team well coached by [Joe] Zenir. We just wanted to come out and compete and that is what our girls did today.
The Knights not only competed and took advantage of the Lady Bees being prone to slow starts.
The Lady Bees, went up 4-1 early on when Juniors Caiya La, who had 16 points and the game winning shot against Twinsburg earlier in the week, and Josalyn Hackney had baskets inside the paint. The first score of the game didn’t come until two minutes into the first quarter.
The Knights later took a 5-4 lead in the first thanks to Senior Taylor Morgan getting an inside layup and a free throw and teammate Freshman Chyanne Williams sinking two at the free-throw line. Scores by both teams would later leave it tied until Lady Bees Senior Maya Woods hit two from the free throw line to give her team a 9-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
During the second quarter, both teams would be tied at 11 until Woods got a hoop and the foul to go up 13-11 with about five minutes left to play. While Woods got the basket, she was injured on the play and didn’t return. Woods had seven points at the time of the injury and was the leading scorer for the Lady Bees at halftime.
Despite taking the lead, the Lady Bees still had to work hard as the Knights wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Knights Senior Haydn Paul would go on a tear scoring some quick baskets and Morgan would get a jumper inside to give Nordonia an 18-16 lead as we approached the last two minutes of the second quarter. Paul had six points on the scoresheet to her name while Morgan had five points to be the leading scorers for the Knights going into halftime.
The second half was not going to be a quiet one for Paul or Morgan as both would go on a tear in the third and fourth quarters to get the spark the Knights needed.
Paul started the second half by getting a free throw, a layup, and a three-ball in the third quarter to get her team rolling in the third quarter to help give them a 26-24 lead with about 5:30 minutes to go in the third quarter.
“We talked to her at halftime where she is so good at getting to the rim, she’s so strong that teams collapse hard on her a lot,” Wolfgang commented in regards to Paul in the second half. “So we tell her in order to loosen that up, she’s got to be confident to be able to pull it from three and stretch them away. She did that in the third quarter. She stepped up, buried some big jumpers for us and you saw it open the lane for us a bit more.”
Paul, who later finished with 21 points in the game, was also a key factor in the fourth quarter by getting a couple of three ball shots early on. Morgan and fellow teammate Mycala Perry also contributed to an 11-point stretch the Knights had to start off the fourth quarter.
Hackney would get a couple of key scores, including a three-ball shot, to make it a 44-43 midway through the fourth quarter. Hackney, who finished with 19 points, tried to give her team that final spark needed by a steal by Morgan and an easy layup would give the Knights a 46-43 lead not too long after.
“Taylor has been outstanding,” commented Wolfgang. “There’s not too many people that can stay in front of her. She’s super quick.”
The Lady Bees had opportunities to take the lead after Junior Lexi Ganley hit two free throws to make it a 46-45 Knights lead late in the fourth quarter.
Morgan would later get one more drive down the court for the Knights and get fouled where she would hit a free throw to make it 47-45 Nordonia with ten seconds left.
“I told her after the game ‘Taylor that drive was huge”, “said Wolfgang.
Morgan finished the game with 13 points.
With the victory, Nordonia moves to 4-10 on the season while the Lady Bees move to 9-2.
“We came out tonight and competed each and every quarter,” said Nordonia Knights Head Coach Ryan Wolfgang. “We made winning plays down the stretch and that is all we had to do.”
