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DAYTON, OH – There is no magic formula for reaching a state championship girls basketball game, but if one did exist, perhaps it has been authored by Olmsted Falls coach Jordan Eaton.
For the second consecutive year, the Bulldogs will play for the Division I state title, as Olmsted Falls clamped down on Magnificat Friday evening, gradually pulling away to a dominant 62-38 victory in a state semifinal at the University of Dayton.
“Congratulations to Olmsted Falls,” said Magnificat coach Danny Gallagher. “Jordan does an incredible job. Year in and year out, his program is elite. The system that he runs is outstanding.”
Last year the Bulldogs lost to Cincinnati Princeton in the championship game, 69-51. They will get another chance at 8:30 p.m. Saturday when they face Springboro, which pulled a huge upset in the other semifinal, taking down top-ranked Pickerington Central, 63-54.
After a tight first quarter that ended with the Bulldogs on top, 14-11, the Blue Streaks came out smoking in the second quarter, scoring the first six points and eventually taking a 19-17 lead. But that’s as good as it got for Magnificat. The Bulldogs finished the quarter on a 15-5 run to take a 32-24 lead, and they opened the third period with a 17-2 run to put the game away at 49-26.
“We kind of got away from what our defensive strategy was,” Gallagher said. “They move very efficiently off the ball. They set a lot of off-ball screens. We tried to prepare for that all week long, but you don’t see a lot of that. Teams don’t run that type of system. Teams usually run isolations and on-ball screens, and we’re really good at defending that. But the off-ball action that they run is incredible.”
Jesse Simon led the way for Olmsted Falls in the first half. The sophomore scored all of her 15 points in the opening two periods, hitting 5 of 8 shots, including all three of her attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.
“I’ve known Jesse for a long time,” Eaton said. “To see her grow into a really great player and a great teammate has been awesome. She’s really worked at it. When we really need her, she steps up. She’s really coachable, and that’s probably the best thing about her.”
Danielle Cameron added 12 points for the Bulldogs in the first half. The Youngstown State signee finished the game with 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals and managed to do it in a relatively quiet way.
“We were just playing by our philosophy of just playing hard and letting the game come to us,” she said. “Don’t force when we’re not open and pass when we’re not open. I think the whole team did a great job of finding people when they were open and then taking good shots.”
Olmsted Falls had a very efficient game on the offensive end, making 24 of 45 shots from the floor overall, 10 of 19 from beyond the arc, and 4 of 5 from the free throw line.
“What makes our offense frustrating to our opponents is that it’s hard to tell where the offense is coming from,” Eaton said. “Our girls do a great job of sharing the basketball and not really caring who gets the credit. You have to have some skill, certainly. Our girls work pretty tirelessly on their games. If you watch our games, you’ll see a lot of girls with the ability to score and who are able to knock down shots. When you have players who can dribble and pass and shoot, you can run pretty much any offense.”
Magnificat had only one player reach double figures, Reese Roggenburk with 10. Katie Maryo added nine, but nobody else had more than four points as the Blue Streaks finished with their lowest scoring output of the season.
Making its first final four appearance in 22 years, Magnificat has four seniors on the roster, Maryo, Brynn Roggenburk, Elizabeth Spicer and Sophia Kuhlman.
“Our seniors, they’re incredible young ladies,” Gallagher said. “They’re incredible leaders. They bought into everything we talked about for the last four years. Magnificat has always had a rich history in athletics, but it’s our first time down here in 22 years. That’s a credit to our four seniors.”
St. Joseph Academy And Girls Basketball Coach Karen Swanson-Haan Part Ways
