by St. Joseph Academy And Girls Basketball Coach Karen Swanson-Haan Part Ways
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DAYTON, OH – DAYTON, Ohio—Only one team in each division can win its final game of the season, and this year it won’t be the Keystone Wildcats.
The only team to reach the girls basketball state semifinals with an unbeaten record, Keystone saw its magical season come to an end, swallowed up by the swarming defense and relentless rebounding of Division III defending state champion Columbus Africentric. The Wildcats hung around for a while Thursday evening at the University of Dayton, but eventually the Nubians pulled away to a 62-35 victory.
Africentric, 27-2, will face Ottawa-Glandorf in the state final at 2 p.m. Saturday. O-G won the other semifinal Thursday night, taking down Portsmouth by the score of 47-40. It will be the 11th state final appearance for Africentric in just 18 seasons, matching the record set by Berlin Hiland. Pickerington Central, which plays in the Division I semifinal Friday night, could also make its 11th finals appearance if the Tigers defeat Springboro in their semifinal.
Keystone, which entered the game with a 28-0 record, was forced to play without leading scorer Brooklyn Barber, who injured her knee in last Saturday’s regional final victory over Doylestown Chippewa. The junior tried to get ready to play in the days leading up to the game, but she told Keystone coach Rocky Houston on Thursday morning that wouldn’t be able to go.
At first it appeared the Wildcats would manage to overcome the loss of Barber. Playing an active 2-3 zone, Keystone forced Africentric into a turnover on the game’s opening possession, and then, just seconds later, Ryle Jedrzejek hit a 3-pointer from the wing, giving the Wildcats a short-lived 3-0 lead.
“I think the biggest difference in this game is that we came out and hit a three on our first possession,” Houston said. “I don’t think we’ve done that the entire playoffs. I was like, ‘We’re on a roll. We’re all right. The girls are ready to go.’ Obviously, after that, things didn’t necessarily go our way.”
Africentric scored the next seven points and later was up, 12-5, with just under 2 minutes left in the period. Keystone managed to cut it to 12-10, but the Nubians soon took over the game because of two things—their defense and their rebounding.
With a marked size advantage, Africentric owned the boards, grabbing 38 rebounds to just 18 for Keystone. In fact, the Nubians had more offensive rebounds, 20, than the Wildcats had overall.
“We knew that we were going to be outsized,” Houston said. “Our goal was to do everything we could to box out and then go get the ball after the boxout. But they have some really good athletes who are a little bit taller than we are, and there were more than a few times they were able to go get the basketball and get some putbacks.”
The main recipient of the rebounding advantage was senior Kamryn Grant, who will be playing for Dayton next year. She led all players with 22 points and 11 rebounds. She was backed by Samairah Thompson and Natiah Nelson with 10 points and seven rebounds each, and Jeniya Bowers added 11 points.
In addition to the rebounding edge, Africentric employed a physical, overwhelming full court man-to-man defense that gave Keystone fits. The Wildcats struggled to get into their offense and only made 14 field goals for the game.
“We knew going into it that they defend everybody really well,” Houston said. “It’s really hard to run any kind of a good motion offense. It’s really hard to get open.”
The lone bright spot for Keystone was senior Jessica Forthofer, who had 18 points and five rebounds. Next for the Wildcats were Vivian Cassell and freshman Madyson Sokolowski with five points each.
But, to their credit, the Wildcats never backed down and never stopped competing, even as the margin grew bigger and bigger. The team’s effort wasn’t lost on Africentric coach Janicia Anderson.
“Hats off to Keystone,” she said. “They had a great season. They really played hard. You could tell they’re well coached.”
After winning 28 consecutive games and then falling behind by as many as 33 points, it would have been easy for the Wildcats to throw in the towel. But it never crossed their minds.
“I love our girls,” Houston said. “They compete. They don’t quit. It doesn’t make a difference. There were times we were down 25 points, 30 points, and we’re diving on the floor, getting after it. There’s no quit. There’s nothing but heart, nothing but desire and grit. They’re going to compete.”
Houston was also pleased with the way the community responded to the first trip to the state final four in program history.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Wildcat Nation, coming here and supporting us,” he said. “On top of that, the donations that were given to us that helped us come down early on Wednesday and be able to stay all the way until Saturday regardless of what happened today. I’m truly thankful for our community and to anybody who reached out to help us.”
Forthofer and Helayna Houston, the coach’s daughter, are the only two seniors on the Keystone team.
