Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Huston hits 1,000, but Coatesville falls
BUCKTOWN >> It’s NBA All-Star weekend, but it looked like the 3-point contest money balls intended for Charlotte got rerouted to Owen J. Roberts High School instead.
During Friday night’s pregame, Owen J. Roberts senior Diana Rantz was presented with a commemorative ball after netting her 100th career 3-pointer scored in the Wildcats’ previous outing. Minutes later in the first quarter, Coatesville senior Sarah Huston earned a commemorative ball herself by surpassing 1,000 career points.
While both teams had a reason to celebrate, the Wildcats will be the ones wanting to commemorate the final result as Owen J. Roberts held off Coatesville, 50-40, in a District 1 Class 6A first round contest, OJR’s first district win since 200506.
“It’s a great way to start finishing up my senior year. I don’t want to see it end anytime soon,” said Rantz. “I love playing this game and with this group. They’re awesome.”
Owen J. Roberts (20-5), the No. 11 seed, advances to face No. 6 seed Souderton (20-2) in Tuesday’s second round where a place in the state tournament is on the line.
The Wildcats, who got head coach Jeremy Mellon his first district win in five tries, successfully bounced back from their defeat to Pope John Paul II in the Pioneer Athletic Conference quarterfinals where Rantz scored her milestone 3-pointer.
“This was a surprise. I was shocked,” Rantz said of the pregame recognition. “Really, all the credit goes to my teammates. Every 3 I make is because of a good pass by one of them and it’s me just finishing the looks they give me.”
She made two more Friday on the way to 14 points, including 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Olivia LeClaire scored 16 secondhalf points en route to a team-high 22 points.
Coatesville made OJR work for its win, specifically Huston, who was excellent while scoring 26 points.
The 5-4 guard hit a 3-pointer with 4:03 left in the first quarter to surpass 1,000 for her career.
“It’s overwhelming. This is something I’ve dreamed about since I was little,” Huston said. “It’s an honor. I can’t thank my team enough for helping me get to this point. They really wanted it for me.”
That was clear from the joy from her teammates and the countless Coatesville supporters postgame that wanted a picture with Huston on a special night.
“She’s our leader who sets the tone with her energy, her toughness, her defense,” head coach Scott Barker said. “We encouraged her and knew she’d have to have a big night for us to compete and she gave us that.
“We’ll miss her a lot. It will be impossible to replace someone like that. But it was a great night for her to go out, to lead this team in the district playoffs and get her 1,00th point. Those are great accomplishments for her as a senior and fouryear player.”
Coach Barker hopes his team will benefit from experiencing the playoff atmosphere at OJR.
“We’ve got a young team so this is new and having a crowd on the baseline and you’re experiencing that in the second half of a playoff game, that’s a whole experience and the younger players will learn from it.
“I thought they (OJR) played the better game. They were a little bit more poised and executed better than we did.”
Coatesville clawed back from an 11-point deficit early. A Rantz 3 gave OJR a 16-5 lead late first quarter, but the Raiders were within 2419 at halftime. They even took the lead, 29-28, on a Huston 3-pointer with 4:14 left in the third quarter.
The game got increasingly physical, but OJR showed it was up for the battle, especially LeClaire, who was assertive in getting to the rim and to the free-throw line as evidenced by 16 points after the break. OJR also had a big advantage on rebounds and had too many secondchance opportunities for Coatesville to overcome.
The Raiders were within 3836 but faded down the stretch, a LeClaire putback and pair of free throws with 2:29 left getting the lead to six, a margin that would only grow from there.
“A lot of the games we’ve lost came from one bad quarter,” Rantz said. “Our biggest thing tonight was staying mentally and physically tough. They are a tough team, skilled and very aggressive. It was matching that and staying calm.”
The poise OJR showed pleased coach Mellon.
“We have not played our best basketball down the stretch,” he said. “The game against Methacton or PJP, we have not been strong enough when we needed to be. So to see (Coatesville) come back and take the lead in the third, to be able to come back and play really good defense, I was really happy about that. I think that shows good maturity from a team with only one senior.” That one senior is Rantz. “She’s the best kid I’ve ever coached,” Mellon said. “The stuff she does that no one knows about, helping behind the scenes, and she does everything in such a positive way. Every practice she’s fun and excited. She’s never down, ever. I’ve never seen her negative, sad in four years over the course of hundreds of practices. It’s amazing. She’s always upbeat and an amazing leader.”
Kiana Brown (8 points) was the Raiders’ only other player with more than one basket. For OJR, freshman Avery White scored six and Hannah Clay added four.
Coatesville’s season concludes after a 9-14 campaign.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve had a lot of injuries, I had an ankle injury, and we lost a lot of players, but I’m so proud that we were able to push through and make it as far as we have,” Huston said.