by The Berea-Midpark Titans went on the road to take on the North Ridgeville Rangers and came away with a 57-41 victory. The Titans were were led by Junior guard Regan Braaten, who finish with 19 points and was crucial throughout the entire game with the ball in her hands. The offense ran though her and when she wasnt scoring, she was either delivering nice passes, or crashing the glass for rebounds. The game was a battle up until late in the 3rd quarter when the Titans broke off a nice run and the Rangers were never able to recover from it.
The Rangers came out playing fast and physical basketball. They were pressuring on defense and effectively pushing the ball down low early. But as the opening quarter went on, the Titans began to heat up. Point guard Regan Braaten was the heartbeat for the Titans offensively in the first quarter. She was lethal with the ball in her hands and scored 9 of the teams 18 first quarter points. It wasn’t just Braaten however, as the squad went 4-6 from three in the quarter, propelling them to a 18-7 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Rangers offensive struggles continued into the start of the second quarter. It was a mix of good defense from the Titans and cold shooting from Ridgeville. Berea-Midpark also gave the Rangers problems on the offensive glass. They crashed the boards after every shot and created a ton of extra opportunities. However, about halfway through the quarter, the game felt a bit of a momentum shift. The Rangers started to lock up on defense and were putting together strong offensive possessions. The shift was largely led by senior forward Yams Scott as she had some clutch offensive rebounds for the team and was able to get to the foul line a few times with physical play in the paint. North Ridgeville brought it back within 2 points, but went into the half down 25-21 after a last second Titans basket.
The Rangers came out strong to start the second half, as it was now them who were crashing the offensive glass and forcing turnovers. After 2 nice baskets from junior Lauryn Bohannon, she gave herself a team leading 10 points, and the Rangers their first lead of the game. The game’s ebbs and flows continued however, as the Titans buckled back into the game and put together a 11-2 run to jump back in front. The run was led by junior Casey Friel as she scored 6 of the 11 points on the run and had a nice assist to Braaten on a 3 pointer. This run shot the Titans up to a 43-34 lead entering the final quarter, and the Rangers were going to need another quarter similar to the second if they wanted to bring this one back.
The Titans kept control in the game for the first half of the fourth quarter. They played strong defense and played slow on offense to bleed the clock out. With about 4 minutes left in the game, The Rangers put together a couple of steals and Lauryn Bohannon converted on 2 fast breaks to cut the deficit to 7 points. Unfortunately for the Rangers, this push was too little too late. Berea-Midpark did a fantastic job pushing past the full court press and converting on the offensive side to seal their victory. The Titans won the game 57-41 with their leading scorer being Regan Braaten. She finished with 19 points and 31 of the games 32 minutes.
Berea-Midpark moves to 16-3 with the win, as they stay on road to take on Olmsted Falls on Friday. North Ridgeville moves to 14-6 with the loss and will travel to Avon Lake on Saturday looking for a bounce back win.
