by Olmsted Falls Bulldog Paige Kohler scored her 1,001-career point tonight as they cruised past the visiting North Ridgeville Rangers by a final score of 62-31. This was part of a 22-point night for Kohler in which she played in front of her past teammates, and also her future coach at The University of Buffalo in the stands.
I spoke with Kohler on just how big this moment was, “It was really exciting and I think my teammates were more excited than I was. They were really pushing me to get this and it is really all on them. They wanted me to take the shots and getting me open. It’s all on them, it is exciting!
Having people from all over the community and my college coach as well just shows the support of the community. Every game we have this support and I just think they love to watch some fun basketball.”
Mia Kalich, who is the other half of the Olmsted Falls Dynamic Duo, scored 19, including 13 in the first half to help put the game out of reach. Danielle Cameron who continues to be a serious threat every single time she touches the ball, scored 13, all coming in a red hot first half that saw her sink 3 shots from deep. Erin Birch and Jessica Wolanin had 3 each while Jesse Simon had 2 with big sister Grace cheering her on in the crowd.
For the Rangers, Grace Kingery overcame early foul trouble to finish with 17 points. Brooke Lime looked sharp tonight, scoring 6 as her and Kingery both played inspired and aggressive basketball in the second half despite the lopsided score at the time. In fact, in the third quarter alone, Kingery led all scorers in that quarter with 10. CC Bouman, Kailey Schultz, Kat Krevda and Gabby Thibodeaux each had 2.
In the “remember that name” category, keep an eye out for Ranger freshman Reyna Balderas who worked hard to get open several times, although the shots didn’t drop, I can already see big things in the future from Balderas in this lineup.
After Krevda started the scoring for the Rangers, the Bulldogs went on a wild 17-0 run. During that stretch, they got threes from Cameron and Wolanin along with 9 points from Kalich. Mia finished with 11 in that quarter alone as the Bulldogs led 24-9 after one.
The second quarter became more of the same as Olmsted Falls went on a 14-1 run to start the period. The Rangers struggled from the field and didn’t score a field goal until 2:18 was left in the second quarter. The teams would go to the half with Olmsted Falls up 42-12 as the only Ranger bucket in that entire quarter came from Bouman.
The Rangers came out with a bit of a spark in the third and cut the lead to 25 at one point but couldn’t get it any closer than that.
AUTHORS NOTE I wanted to send along a personal congratulations to Paige Kohler, along with head coach Jordan Eaton of Olmsted Falls. She is a humble kid who works hard, and Buffalo is getting a gem of not only an athlete, but a human being!
ALSO, A FULL PHOTO GALLERY CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE TWO
Congrats Paige! You exemplify how the game should be played. Keep driving, dreaming and believing!