Panthers use depth to prevail, 60-38

There’s strength in numbers for the girls basketball team, especially facing a team that has hardly any numbers.

There’s strength in numbers for the Elyria Catholic girls basketball team, especially when facing a team that has hardly any numbers at all.

Facing a game Warrensville

Heights team that dressed seven and ended the game with five available players, top-seeded Elyria Catholic used its superior numbers Feb. 26 to eventually wear down the Tigers and pull away for a 60-38 victory in a Division III district semifinal at North Ridgeville High School.

Next up for the 23-1 Panthers is Lutheran East in the district final Feb. 29. The third-seeded Falcons won the night’s other semifinal, edging No. 2 Independence,

32-31.

“Obviously, we felt we were deeper than them,” said Elyria Catholic coach Eric Rothgery. “So, we wanted to get as many people into the game as we could to try to wear them down.”

The strategy worked.

The Panthers had nine players score, as Rothgery and assistant coach Joe Schill rotated players in and out of the game. Rothgery is recovering from recent surgery for a perforated colon, so he spent most of the game glued to the bench, allowing Schill to be in charge.

The game turned on two situations. First of all,

Warrenville Heights played a tight first quarter and trailed by just a point, 9-8, when guard Bintou Traore went down with what appeared to be a rolled ankle. The sophomore returned to the bench late in the second quarter but was on crutches and never got back onto the court.

Which led to the next defining situation. With the Tigers clinging to a 13-12 lead after A’Mari Wheatley hit a 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left in the first half, Elyria Catholic

went on a 16-0 run that pretty much put the game away. Again, using their depth, the Panthers had six different players hit their seven field goals during the run.

While Elyria Catholic was taking over on the offensive end, it was the defense that turned the tide, according to Rothgery.

“That run was huge,” he said. “Basically, we just started D’ing them up and forced them into some pressure situations where they turned the ball over and

got us in good position to score.”

The Tigers, who have made a living this season off of their full court pressure, turned the ball over eight times in the quarter, 20 times in the game.

The 16-0 run made it 2813 at the half, and another quick burst gave EC a 3315 lead early in the third quarter. But rather than quit, Warrensville Heights came out fighting and cut the margin to six, 34-28, midway through the third quarter.

“That’s a pretty good team,” Rothgery said. “They work hard. They never gave up. We just had to keep doing our thing.”

Junior guard Jade Salters led the comeback, scoring 13 of her game-high 18 points in the third quarter. However, the Tigers didn’t get another field goal after a Salters 3-point play cut the margin to six. Warrensville Heights only scored 10 points in the game’s final 12 minutes, all from the freethrow line. Salters fouled out with just under 5 minutes

to play.

Ally Winnen led the way for Elyria Catholic with 14 points and 11 rebounds. She was backed by Kaylie Griffin with 9 points and Emily Rapacz with 7.

The Panthers are hoping to make a return trip to Columbus after just missing last year. In order to do that, they probably will need to do a better job from the free-throw line than they did against Warrensville Heights, hitting just 6 of 19 attempts.