by Brynn Roggenburk began the scoring tonight to help Magnificat build a lead, and then Reese Roggenburk was once again the closer in the fourth to help them put it away as the sisters combined for 25 total points in the Blue Streaks 53-31 victory over Mentor. This helped them capture their second consecutive District Championship.
Mentor hung tough with the Blue Streaks in the first, as it was only 5-4 late in the opening quarter when Gemma Wichmann finished her missed shot with a rebound and put back to give her team a 7-4 lead. Wildly, the first quarter ended with only 12 combined points as Magnificat led 7-5 after 8 minutes of action. Wichmann was everywhere tonight and finished with 6 points.
The second quarter saw a wild stretch in which Katie Maryo hit a three only to be followed by a three from Maggie Hawley of Mentor and then seconds later, it was Julia Hall draining one from deep. Hall finished the night with 12 for the Blue Streaks while Maryo had 9. Maryo, had the ball in her hands with the clock winding down as she hit a three ball at the buzzer to hand the Blue Streaks a 27-17 halftime lead.
Maryo talks about how it felt to hit so many big shots in this game as she did, “It felt good. We knew we had it. It came down to owning up to our values and sticking with it. It feels good but I want to go day by day and keep practicing hard so we can get better for the next rounds. “
The third quarter was a tale of two stories as the Cardinals began the half hot, with three balls from Mallory Chicone, Hawley and Nina Rodriguez. The Blue Streaks weathered the storm and kept a 9-point lead at 37-28 as we began the final quarter.
Blue Streak head coach Danny Gallagher explains why his team was able to weather the Mentor storm, “We just needed to settle in a little more. They made some shots we were willing to give up, and they sunk them, but our defense was still great. We eventually settled in, got the ball inside and we executed.”
The fourth quarter was absolutely dominated by the Blue Streaks, as it only took 3 minutes for them to extend their lead to 51-30 and put the game away for good. Maryo hit another big 3 while Sofia Wilson and Hall hit clutch shots as well. Wilson finished with 8 tonight with 6 of those coming in the second half. The big hitter in the fourth was Reese Roggenburk who finished the period with 8 points and the game with 13.
Reese Roggenburk was so strong again in the fourth quarter, that has been her calling card this year, and coach Danny talked about that as well, “she has been doing that stuff for us all year. She is a great kid and one of the most selfless kids I have ever been around. She cares about her teammates and puts everyone else in front of herself. She is like a sponge right now and gets better every single day.”
Medina will now compete for a chance at the Regional Championship. They must defeat Brush on Tuesday in Medina to play in that Championship game a week from Saturday on what would be March 9th. The Blue Streaks just want to take it one game at a time however.
Coach Danny talks about the impending matchup with Brush, “We’ll look at some stuff tonight, but we want to enjoy tonight as well. You have to soak in these moments and just keep being who we are. “
Mentor looked good tonight and showed a lot of heart as they competed all game long. They were led by Izzy Coode, Nina Rodriquez and Maggie Hawley who had 8 each while Mallory Chicone had 7 and Lexi Berwald finished the scoring with 1.
FULL PHOTO GALLERY ON PAGE TWO
