by PHOTO CREDIT – Amy Eldridge
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ROCKY RIVER, OH – A wild game in Rocky River saw the visiting North Ridgeville Rangers capture a 44-39 Holiday Classic Tournament Championship. North Ridgeville led by 13 at one point in the third quarter, before a fantastic effort by Rocky River cut it to one point, but could just never seem to get that go ahead basket to go in, and North Ridgeville eventually held on for the win in the closing moments.
Grace Kingery had a first half for the ages, as she finished with 32 on the night, but 25 of those came in the first half that also saw her nail 7 three pointers in that stretch. Kingery did a lot of the little things as well, bodying up in the paint, and also playing superb defense with several blocks, deflections and just causing havoc on the defensive end. It was one of the most all-around, well-rounded games I’ve seen her play.
Reyna Balderas finished with 6 more for the Rangers while Brooke Lime hit two clutch foul shots late, to seal the victory for her only points of the game. CC Bouman finished with 4 on the night as well.
Mackenzie Russell and Oliva Dewey each had 9 points for the Rocky River Pirates, with all of their combined 18 points coming from beyond the arc. Ava Patti was held to 6 points while Liz Lang had 10. Kylie Crane 2 and Claudia Roche 3.
Grace Kingery and Mackenzie Russell exchanged three balls to start the game, and then Kingery absolutely went off as she scored 13 of North Ridgeville’s 15 points in the quarter. By the end of the 8-minute blitz, Kingery already had 16 of her teams 18 points as she was red hot from outside. Russell nailed two from deep for the Pirates to keep them in at 18-12.
The second quarter was simply a three-point party as neither team made a two-point field goal, it was all three’s. The feisty freshman Olivia Dewey sunk 2 more for River, while Kingery had 3 more from deep, giving her 7 on the half while Reyna Balderas got one as well. All of this, gave North Ridgeville a 30-20 lead at the break.
Then, it was time for the third quarter, a frenzied 8-minute stretch that you had to see to believe. After North Ridgeville extended their lead to 36-23 with 3:56 to play, River called a timeout and came out like a house on fire. A Claudia Roche three, cut it to 36-26 before a Liz Lang three ball made it 36-29. They weren’t done. North Ridgeville called a timeout but it didn’t help as Ava Patti took a turnover the length of the court for another bucket while seconds later, a Russell three ball cut it to 36-34 and sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
The 11-0 River run to end the quarter, had it 36-34 North Ridgeville in front as we entered the fourth. 2 minutes into the fourth quarter, an Olivia Dewey three ball made it 40-39, with 6 minutes to play. Then, nothing happened for nearly 5 plus minutes as despite one great shot after another by River, nothing seemed to drop. Rocky River was getting great looks, the ball simply wouldn’t fall in.
Eventually Rocky River had no choice but to start fouling with under a minute to go, and this allowed North Ridgeville to pull away with some clutch foul shots by Brooke Lime and Grace Kingery. I spoke with North Ridgeville Head Coach Amy Esser about her teams composure late when the Pirates began to foul. She had this to say, “We didn’t have composure for about a quarter and half there, and as a coach you only have so many timeouts and can only bail them out so many times. But, composure wise at the end of a game, when Brooke Lime and Grace Kingery are on the floor, I don’t worry as I know they will take care of the basketball, and that is what they did at the end of the game.”
Coach Esser went on to explain what she wants to see out of her team moving forward this season, “I want to see them play for 4 quarters every night and continue to improve. We need to do the little things right and cannot settle or be content.”
From everyone at Kee On Sports, we just want to thank Rocky River athletics director Mark Wagner for his continued superb treatment of the media this week. Happy Holidays everyone!
