Olmsted Falls Lady Bulldogs Capture SWC Championship With Win Over Avon Lake Shoregals

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It was a tight second half as the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs survived a furious Avon Lake Shoregal rally to capture yet another outright SWC Championship for head coach Jordan Eaton and the fantastic fan base that is Olmsted Falls. It didn’t come easy, but when it mattered most they got big shots from Maddie Cerovac, Jesse Simon and Emma Schaefer to seal the deal on the road.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by the exciting sophomore sensation Emma Schaefer with 12 extremely hard-earned points as she was fouled on every make.  Maddie Cerovac stepped up once again as a leader when they needed her most as she earned 11 points.  Jesse Simon had 9 points with clutch foul shots late while Addison Mullen stepped up with 8 points. Finishing the scoring for the Bulldogs was Avery DeLision with 4 while Reese Timura had 3 and Grace Largent had one.

They spread the ball out and they proved they can beat a team multiple ways, not just camping out at the three-point line. Coach Eaton is a master at running this program, inspiring and motivating his kids and keeping the focus on nothing but what goes on the court.

Avon Lake is not far behind and looked impressive once again this year.  They are loaded from top to bottom and despite things not going their way, this remains one of the top 25 teams in the area and a school that will be a tough out in the postseason.  They defend well and they have a relentless energy that is a direct reflection of their coaching staff, work ethic and all-around toughness. An exciting bunch to cover despite the loss tonight.

The Shoregals were led by Olivia Miller in scoring.   She is such an all around talent and she showed it again tonight with an inside game, and outside game, and even nailed 6 foul shots. Just a junior, she should have a big postseason and then senior year to come.  Miller is one to watch in the area .

Each scoring 8 was Evelyn Ritt, Molly Milligan and Olivia Tobin while Bre Jones had 7 and Izzie Polinko put in 1 while defending extremely well as always.  If there was a “fire plug” award it should go to Izzie as she is a tremendous leader out there and all around talented.  You can watch her play for five minutes and already tell just how hard she works.

It was a tight first four minutes that saw Jesse Simon pace the Bulldogs out to a 5-0 lead before the Shoregals ralled right back with five straight of their own to tie it up at 5 with 3:35 to play.  From there, Emma Schaefer connected on a 3 point play, nailing the shot and following foul shot to place the Bulldogs back on top 8-5. Moments later a beautiful inside outside play worked to perfection and left Mullen wide opened as she drained one from deep to increase the Bulldog lead to 11-5. The score remained that way after one quarter of action.

Two clutch foul shots by Olivia Miller pulled the Shoregals to within 3 at 11-8 after one minute of action into the second.  From there a few foul shots answered a Cerovac bucket to keep it close at 13-9 before a three-point play by Cerovac pushed the Bulldog lead back out to 16-9. Shortly after that, DeLisio nailed a three and then a powerful layup by Emma Schaefer made it 21-9 Bulldogs.  To this point with with 2:52 left in the quarter, the Shoregals still hadn’t made a shot in the quarter but that ended shortly after when Milligan sunk one. The Bulldogs went to take a 25-13 led at the break.

The Shoregals came out of the break firing to start the second half with a few foul shots from Olivia Miller followed by a three ball from Bre Jones to cut it to 25-18. The hot streak continued when Tobin nailed a three pointer on their next possession, cutting the lead to 25-21 just like that with 4:17 to play in the third quarter.

From there, Olivia Millers fifth foul shot conversion of the game made it a one possession affair at 25-22 with 3:16 left and the Bulldogs still looking for their first bucket of the half. It remained close as the third quarter concluded with the Shoregals trailing the Bulldogs by a score of 32-26.  Some clutch shots by the Largent and Schaefer combination helped the Bulldogs regain control.

The Bulldogs opened up the final quarter with 4 straight points from Cerovac before Mullen nailed a three from the corner to put them ahead 39-26 moments into the final quarter.  After a big Ritt 3 cut it closer for the Shoregals, yet again for the fourth time tonight, it was Emma Schaefer nailing an “and one” layup while getting fouled where she then sunk the foul shot for a hard earned three point play.  This was her 10, 11 and 12^th points of the game, and ran the Bulldog lead out to 44-35 with 2:10 to play.  Schaefer was nails tonight!

Down nine with time winding down, the Shoregals needed a spark and got one with a elbow three from Miller. This was followed by  turnover and then a Ritt bucket to cut it to 44-40 with 1:31 to play in the game. From there a Polinko foul shot made it 44-41 with 58.6 to play as the momentum was all Shoregals. They couldn’t get it any closer however as the Bulldogs hung on for the win when Simon nailed tow foul shots to close it out.