by With nothing to play for except pride and bragging rights, the girls basketball team from Medina Highland used its experience and depth Monday to defeat neighborhood rival Medina, 51-45.
No conference title was on the line, as the teams are in different loops. The game couldn’t be viewed as a precursor for the postseason, because Medina is in Division I, while Highland resides in Division III. However, they are among the top teams in their respective divisions, as the victory moved the Hornets to 15-0 and Medina fell to 10-3.
“It’s a big game because it’s a neighborhood rival and they’re a top team in the area,” said Highland coach James Madison. “It’s a measuring stick for us. Every time we play Medina, they’re always tough, and we need to match that toughness. Tonight, we did.”
On this night, the definition of matching toughness was playing physical, hard-nosed defense. With Highland playing a switching halfcourt man-to-man, Medina struggled mightily to put the ball in the basket, even missing wide open layups on a few occasions. The Bees made just 8 of 51 field goal attempts for 16%.
“The difference tonight was that we missed so many shots at the beginning, and we could not make a shot in the second half other than free throws,” said Medina coach Karen Kase. “They did what we asked of them as far as driving and attacking and getting foul calls and getting to the line because that stopped the clock. But we can’t continue to have four made baskets in the second half of games. We’ve got to be able to have put backs and layups go in the bucket.”
As much as Medina struggled from the field, it was just the opposite from the free throw line. In fact, the game featured high-quality shooting from the foul line that isn’t often seen in girls high school basketball. Highland made 15 of 16 free throws (94%), while the Bees connected on 27 of 30 (90%). But, as Kase lamented, “It wasn’t enough.”
Highland never led until late in the second quarter, as a 9-0 run in the final 2 minutes, 4 seconds of the period turned a 15-11 deficit into a 20-15 halftime lead. The Bees fought back in the third quarter to tie the score at 24, but, once again, they hit a cold streak, and the Hornets ended the period with a 12-2 run that made the score 36-26 entering the final quarter.
Medina scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to cut the margin to four. Later, when Olivia Klanac swished a long 3-pointer with 1:53 to play, the margin was cut to 43-41, but that’s as close as Medina would get. Aleena VanKirk scored off a post move and Grace Shondel added a fastbreak layup after a Morgan Madison steal to give Highland some breathing room.
“I think the difference tonight was our experience,” said Madison. “I have a lot of seniors, and this was a pressure cooker. When you have a lead and the team comes at you with run after run after run and they don’t go away, you have to be able to withstand that. So, mental toughness was the No.1 thing with that experience.”
The Hornets were led by Kennedy Morgan with 17 points, with 13 coming in the second half. VanKirk added 10 points, giving Highland an important presence in the paint.
“Kennedy really stepped up,” Madison said. ” She didn’t really have a lot of shots in the first half, but I will give her credit, she didn’t force her shots. She let the game come to her, and that was huge.”
Medina was led by Klanac with 23 points. However, she struggled from the floor, making just four of 22 shots, including just 1 of 9 from beyond the 3-point line. She made up for it by making 14 of 16 free throws, but, like the entire Medina team, the field goals just were not falling.
“When you lose, you’ve got to learn something from it,” said Kase. “It happens to be our neighbor, so it doesn’t feel good. But you have to learn something from it and take it forward with you. The fact is that we’ve had two hard games in a row (the Bees lost to Magnificat, 56-39, on Friday). Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of both. But what are you going to do about it? How are you going to respond?”
