by The 2nd seeded Mentor Cardinals escaped with a 44-40 OT win over the 6th seeded McKinley Bulldogs in the Regional Semifinal round of the 2026 OHSAA Girls Basketball Ohio State Championships. Mentor seemed to be in control early but McKinley battled back and gave them a run for their money. Every time Mentor seemed to be running away with the game, McKinley battled hard and somehow found a way to claw back into the game. The Bulldogs overcame an 11 point deficit with just 2 minutes left in the game to send it into OT. But in the end the Cardinals defense and inside presence was too much to over come. They will move on in the bracket and look to continue their magical run.
Mentor got off to a quick start in this one. They started off with a 11-0 run that was highlighted by their interior play on both sides of the ball. Freshman center Ashlyn McKinney was clinical inside in the opening quarter. She finished the quarter with 5 points, 5 rebounds and a pair of blocks. She was getting involved in just about every play. McKinley struggled in the first and it was largely in part to the Cardinals defensive presence. The first quarter ended in a dominant 14-3 lead for the Cardinals.
The following quarter couldn’t have been more opposite. McKinley settled into the game and it really showed on defense. They switched to a zone and were eliminating passing lanes. They took ball movement, one of Mentor’s strengths, and made them go away from it. This forced a lot of turnovers and poor shot selections for the Cardinals. On the other end the Bulldogs finally started seeing some shots go down. Mya Taylor, the leader of the offense, scored 7 points in the second and helped lead the comeback. In all they went on a 16-5 run throughout the second quarter and the teams went into the locker room knotted up at 19 a piece.
The defensive battle continued into the third quarter. Both teams wanted to drive and get inside and both were having a really tough job doing that. It wasn’t until halfway through the quarter until Mentor finally got things going. Thanks to some hustle plays in transition from senior Nina Rodriguez, the Cardinals put together a little run. They went on a 9-2 run to close out the quarter and get back some of their first quarter momentum. 33-26 was the gap going into the final quarter, and the Cardinals were just 8 minutes away from moving on.
After getting in some foul trouble in the third, Ashlyn McKinney checked back into the game for the Cardinals. It didn’t take long for her to make an impact. She got right back to her first quarter self. She was swallowing up board after board and completely controlled the paint. With 4 minutes left, Mentor held a 11 point lead. The Bulldogs were going to have to put together a quick run if they wanted to bring themselves back into the game. After some back and forth, Mya Taylor made back to back buckets to cut the lead down to 7 with just over 2 minutes left.
McKinley forced back to back stops giving them the ball with 1:15 seconds left down 5. Off an inbounds play to Taylor, she kicked it back out to her teammate Kana Beltz who drained a 3 to cut the deficit to 2 with a minute left. Taylor wasn’t done however. She forced another steal off the in bounds play and scored a quick layup to tie the game. On the ropes the Cardinals turned the ball back over and it felt like McKinley was going to take their first lead of the game. Taylor drove to the lane where 20 stayed put and took a massive charge to give her squad the ball back with 40 seconds left. But the Cardinals again struggled to get the ball in, turning it over again.
The ball was poked out of bounds with 12 seconds left and the Bulldogs had a chance to end it right then and there after an in-bounds pass. Mya Taylor called for an iso after they got the ball in. She tried to drive but was denied and took a long fade away 2 as the clock hit zeros. The ball rattled in the rim and bounced out, sending the game to overtime tied at 40.
The first 2 minutes of the extra period went scoreless. The first bucket came from Cardinals Keira Coleman to make the lead 42-40. After a turnover and a foul, Rodriguez hit 1 of 2 to go up 3 with 1:25 left. Mentor then did something that made your hair stand up. After a missed shot they took the ball to their offensive zone and with great ball movement they played keep away from the Bulldogs. They bled more than a minute off the clock and did not get fouled until there was 7 seconds left. They made 1 of 2 and there just wasn’t enough time for McKinley. Mentor won the game 44-40 and will move on in the bracket.
Mya Taylor finished the game with 23 points and her and her teammate gave it 100% till the final buzzer. In the end though it wasn’t enough. Mentors paint presence and leadership was too much to overcome. Ashlyn McKinney finished the game with 15 points and 21 rebounds. Another star was Nina Rodriguez. She battled an injury in the fourth quarter and came back into the game fighting till the end.
Mentor moves on to the regional final where they will play the winner of 1st seeded Wadsworth and 3rd seeded Jackson.
