The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Lutheran West, E.C. to meet in district final
Panthers stifle Wellington, move on to district title game
THE SCORE ELYRIA CATHOLIC 35, WELLINGTON 22
Elyria Catholic rode its defense to another district championship game as the Panthers held down a determined Wellington squad, 35-22, on Feb. 28.
Confidence can be a dangerous thing for an underdog, but letting a team like Wellington come into a game with confidence is just asking for trouble. Stressing a need to play with intensity and
trust, Elyria Catholic coach Eric Rothgery said he was pleased the way his team started against a tough defensive Dukes team.
“You’re playing a team that’s playing a zone defense and you hit a couple 3s early. You hope that it spreads things out and I think it did. We just had a little trouble finishing near the hoop,” Rothgery said. “It seemed like we’d dump it inside and we’d just miss or maybe somebody’s hand would get on it, credit to them too. They play solid defense. they’ve got some nice athletes on that team, really good basketball players. We knew they weren’t just going to lay down.”
The Panthers held the Dukes to seven first-half points, and Rothgery
said that even when his team is off with its shooting, he can always rely on their defense.
“We probably had our worst shooting quarter maybe in the season there in that third quarter and they were able to close it to three,” Rothgery said. “But, defense still carried the day. When you hold somebody to 22 points, you’re not going to lose a lot of games.”
Wearing the pride of one of the best seasons in school history, Wellington banded together with the help of a rowdy student section and mounted a comeback in the third quarter.
Closing in to 23-19 just before the end of the quarter, the Dukes went full throttle and made things very interesting entering the final frame.
“I felt like in the first half we were really just standing a lot. I think it was their pressure defensively,” Wellington coach Nathan Morris said.
“I don’t know if it was a shock to us or what, but we did a lot of standing in the first half.
“We just talked in halftime that we needed to just move and run our offense and once we started to move and run our offense and attack a little bit out of it, then good things happen.”
Morris said his team just ran out of gas trying to overcome the gap.
“EC’s a good team. down the stretch there they spread you out and really it’s not really our game to trap and move around and chase those little guards around,” Morris said. “A lot of credit to them, but I think we ran out of gas at the end.”
Having a lot to be proud of with the team’s first confernece title since 1989, junior Alexis Lehmkuhl said she was still very proud of what the team was able to do.
“It’s not the way we wanted our season to end. We didn’t want it to end this early,” Lehmkuhl said. “We had a great season. We’re PAC champs this year. We haven’t done that in a while and I’m proud of our girls.”
Back in familiar territory, Elyria Catholic junior Faith Williams, who led all scorers with 16 points, said her team is just going to play like they always do, no matter the opponent.
“We’re definitely going to prepare for whatever team wins tonight and then from there we’re going to do what we do,” Williams said.