by North Ridgeville– In a battle of the Rangers, the North Ridgeville Rangers (6-7) get the victory over the Lakewood Rangers (6-8) 44-40.
The 1st half both teams struggled to score. Lakewood had a hard time communicating with 13 turnovers. Even with the passing dilemmas it did not faze Lakewood, outscoring North Ridgeville 25-23, going into halftime with a two-point lead.
In the 2nd half these teams went back and forth. Basket after basket, foul after foul, trying to come up with a strategy to conquer one another. North Ridgeville flipped the script, just holding Lakewood to 15 points in the 2nd half. With 32 seconds left to go in the game North Ridgeville was up 43-40, Lakewood ball. Lakewood inbounded the ball looking for a shot from behind the arc. They put up a three that was no good and rebounded by Sophomore Brooke Schroeder who got fouled and sent to the line for two three-throws. Schroeder made 1 out of the 2, making it a two-possession game with 12 seconds left, giving the North Ridgeville Rangers the 44-40 victory. Lakewood’s leading scorers were Freshman Ari Hueter who had 13 points and Senior Elizabeth Doup with 12 points.
I had a chance to speak with North Ridgeville Rangers Head Coach Amy Esser about the win. “It wasn’t a pretty victory but we grinded it out at the end. I thought we made stops when we needed to. At the end of the day, earlier in the season in games late, we really couldn’t finish games. Now we are starting to figure out those situational things and be able to finish games strong with a win.” Esser said
Senior Gabby Thibodeaux had a big night once again scoring 12 points for North Ridgeville. I carried on by asking Coach Esser about her performance. Esser continued by saying “Gabby has been a really good scorer for us and when she is knocking outside shots it really opens up everybody else, opens up lanes, opens up our post players as well.”
Underclassmen Sophomore Lauryn Bohannon had six points on the campaign. I continued by asking Coach Esser how she played today and contributed all over the court. “Lauryn brings a lot of energy for us and she brings a defensive presence that causes a lot of havoc. She can create steals, deflections, and I thought she played really well overall.” Esser said.
The Lakewood Rangers will head back home for a two-game homestand, returning to Cleveland West Conference play. They will take on the Westlake Demons Saturday January 18th at 12:30 PM, following with the North Olmsted Eagles next week January 22nd. The North Ridgeville Rangers will make a quick pit stop on the road to take on the Elyria Catholic Panthers Wednesday January 15th at 7 PM before heading back home Saturday January 18th to take on the Amherst Steel Comets in a Southwestern Conference matchup.
1 2 3 4 F
Lakewood 11 14 7 8 40
North Ridgeville 10 13 11 10 44
