by Rocky River, OH – Coming off the tail of their best regular season since the 2019-20 season, the Lutheran West Lady Longhorns hosted the Shaw Lady Cardinals in a Sectional Final matchup. Lutheran West got off to a fast start from the tip and never looked back. Senior Aliciana Medina led the way with 19 points in the game followed by her fellow seniors, Maddie Kandrach and Ella Heisner, that contributed 12 each.
It was the senior firepower of the Longhorns that did the majority of the work in the first quarter. Ella Heisner and Maddie Kandrach scored the first 9 points of the game for Lutheran West to give them an early 9-0 lead. Aliciana Medina was right behind them, dropping 7 points in the first. Seniors Chloe Campbell and Ava Carter each knocked down a 3-pointer in the first quarter to give them 3 points each. Sophomore Addy Esposito got in on the action, adding 4 points in the opening frame. Lutheran West had a commanding 28-0 lead after one quarter of play.
The 2nd quarter was much tighter as the scoring dipped drastically. Only 12 total points were scored between the two teams. Chloe Campbell added another three-ball to here scoring in the quarter, while Aliciana Medina and Maddie Kandrach each added 2 points. For Shaw, Kamora Davis and Tynya Jackson were responsible for all 5 of the Cardinals’ points. Jackson had 3 points while Davis added 2. Heading into the break, Lutheran West led 35-5 over Shaw.
Coming out of the locker room to start the second half, the Longhorns got right back to their scoring ways. Addy Esposito led the way with 7 points in the frame. Medina, Kandrach, and Heisner all chipped in as well. Alivia Adams and Ava Carter each added 2 points to the third quarter scoring total. This gave Lutheran West another 20+ point quarter. Tynya Jackson continued to carry the workload for the Cardinals as she scored all 5 points in the quarter.
The fourth quarter saw minimal scoring again due to a running clock for the entire 8 minutes. Kamora Davis did all the scoring this time for Shaw as she scored 3 in the final frame. On the Lutheran West side, Aliciana Medina dropped 8 in the quarter to raise her game-high total to 19 points. Ella Heisner added a final bucket, giving her 12 points in the game.
With the Sectional Final victory, Lutheran West stays home to host the Edgewood Warriors in a D4 District Semi-Final matchup. The game will be played on Tuesday, February 24th at 7 pm.
Congratulations to the Shaw Cardinals team and staff on a hard-fought season!
PLAYER OF THE GAME: LW SENIOR ALICIANA MEDINA
